Experts concerned HGH is a growing problem
NEW YORK -- When Dr. Gary Wadler first inserted human growth hormone into a search engine yesterday morning, it returned 15,900,000 hits. By 1:30 p.m., when he tried it again, the number had swelled to 16,200,000. And, with the recent revelations from journeyman pitcher Jason Grimsley, the amount of information and the number of people searching for it will likely continue to increase.
``For a drug that has a very limited marketplace, that is amazing," said Wadler, a New York University professor and member of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). ``My sense is it has become more prevalent, partly because we've become more adept at detecting steroid use. The marketplace is out there -- you're dealing with a lot of criminal behavior.
``This is another form of drug abuse. Clearly, my concern is it's growing. Can't give you numbers, can't prove that. [But] being in this field, you get the sense it's a bigger problem than it had been."
With baseball's harsher drug policy, the prevailing wisdom was the game was rid of most performance-enhancing drugs. Giant sluggers with enormous heads would be a thing of the past. And yet, with the first season of three-and-out testing not even at the All-Star break, allegations have surfaced that players are turning to human growth hormone (HGH) -- produced by the pituitary gland and responsible mainly for growth, particularly in developmental years and affecting almost every organ -- for their fix.
HGH, a drug baseball bans but cannot test for, has been around since the late 1970s. Before a synthetic version of the drug existed, athletes and bodybuilders experimented with ground-up pituitary glands from cadavers, trying to reap the benefits of a drug that increases muscle mass and reduces body fat, although there is little medical evidence to confirm its effects. Then, despite efforts to keep the drug regulated, when a synthetic version was developed in 1985, it spilled into the athletic arena where, experts say, it has been used ever since. Prior to baseball's new steroid policy, the two drugs would likely have been used in concert with each other to produce the optimum results, according to Charles Yesalis, a drug expert and recently retired professor of health policy and administration, and exercise and sport science at Penn State.
Like anabolic steroids -- of which HGH is not one -- HGH has outward manifestations, including excessive growth of the jaw, hands, and feet, which could be seen in Andre the Giant, one of the most notable users of the hormone. (The wrestler, who died in 1993, had acromegaly, which naturally floods the body with HGH.) It also can bring increased chances of heart disease and diabetes.
``I think if they come up with a test that we're satisfied is accurate, then we'll revisit whether we want to take blood," said the Red Sox' Mark Loretta, a Players Association representative. ``Once you're tested, your name goes back in and you can be tested again. In theory, you could be tested seven, eight times a year and that would be seven, eight blood samples. We think that's a little extreme, especially when there's no proven test. But if that does happen, I'm sure we would reassess our position on that."
Though scientists have been working on the problem for a decade, no urine test exists for HGH, which is why baseball, which deems blood testing too invasive, has little or no way to combat the problem. According to Wadler, scientists have come up with two blood tests for HGH, both of which have their doubters. One, still in the developmental stage, is known as the marker method. Instead of testing the hormone, the marker test finds biochemical changes in the body as a result of injecting HGH. Wadler said more population data is needed to make testing more accurate. The isoform method, used at the 2004 Athens Olympics, looks at the size of the growth hormone molecules -- ones produced naturally vary in size (measured in kilodaltons), while those produced synthetically are uniform.
``In anti-doping, blood testing is an integral part," Wadler said. ``To preclude it is wrong. That doesn't mean they shouldn't continue to look for a urine test. People have been working on this for years with no luck. It's an unfortunate message being sent to young people because they don't have a test for it. I'm worried this whole role modeling for growth hormone [with athletes using the drug] will filter down into the high schools. I can assure you, a lot of high school kids are on the Net right now."
Though waiting for the Players Association to agree to blood testing may be futile, Major League Baseball recently agreed to help fund research by UCLA's Dr. Don Catlin into a urine test for HGH. (Catlin did not return a call to his office yesterday.) But, according to a story in The
``I applaud their contributing to research," said Wadler, who estimated conservatively that $5 million has been spent over 10 years to try to find a urine test. ``I'm not sure it's going to take them a long way. If they succeed, so much the better. But I have a healthy degree of skepticism that it's going to be any time soon."
And, in that time, athletes likely will have moved on. Because as scientists attempt to foil those creating the performance-enhancing drugs, new ones are being created. Undetectable ones.
``You don't know the hot drug, nor do I," Yesalis said. ``When we find out about stuff, they've already gone on to the next one. Growth hormone's use in athletics is as big a surprise as the Army Jeep. Everybody's known about it. No secret. Nothing new. The real secret stuff is new designer drugs."
