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Only two of 10,000 athletes in Texas test positive for steroids

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  • Originally published July 2, 2008 at 10:25 a.m., updated July 2, 2008 at 10:25 a.m.

AUSTIN (AP) – Among 10,000 Texas high schoolers tested this spring, only two student-athletes tested positive for steroids, officials said.

Both supporters and critics of the largest steroids testing program in the country said the results validate their positions.

“I pushed this important legislation through the Legislature because I knew it would deter our young people from wrecking their bodies and putting their lives at risk by using illegal steroids,” Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said in Tuesday’s editions of the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News.

Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, one of seven state lawmakers to vote against the steroid-testing program, wants it abolished.

“This is one of those issues that sounds good but has no real impact except wasting taxpayer dollars,” Patrick said. “I don’t want to diminish the seriousness of steroids, but you can’t take a sledgehammer to kill a gnat.”

University Interscholastic League spokeswoman Kim Rogers said Tuesday the figures were preliminary and declined further comment.

The National Center for Drug Free Sport was selected in January to run Texas’ massive high school steroids testing program after competing with 13 other companies for the two-year, $6 million program.

The company’s preliminary results are based on 10,407 high school student-athletes who were tested since February, when state officials launched the random steroid-testing program mandated by state lawmakers.

The first positive test for anabolic steroid use triggers a 30-day suspension from competition.

State officials would not identify the schools in which a student-athlete failed the steroid test.

Experts predicted that random steroid tests would result in less than 1 percent of students testing positive, said Jeff Kloster, associate commissioner for health and safety at the Texas Education Agency.



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