Why are steroids banned in sport?

Answer 1

Anabolic steroids have been banned from sports because they provide an unfair advantage, but mostly because of the health risks. The potential risks to health include heart conditions, liver damage, reproductive problems, and psychiatric disorders.

Answer 2

Performance enhancing drugs are generally banned in most sports because they give the user an unfair advantage. Steroids can increase stamina, reduce recovery time, and/or enhance muscle-building, but they also potentially cause a number of far less desirable side effects, depending upon the types used and for what purpose.

Steroids can mess with your natural chemistry, inhibiting normal hormone production; they can put a strain on your liver and kidneys; they can raise 'bad' cholesterol levels in the blood; some steroids can be converted into oestrogen, potentially causing the growth of breast tissue in males; they can increase the occurrence of acne; they increase aggression and can lead to unpredictable mood swings; they may cause hair loss; they can prompt the appearance of masculine characteristics in women; they can stunt the height and growth of developing individuals (ie- teenagers); they can cause unwanted weight gain; they can lead to raised blood pressure; they can suppress or stimulate the immune system; they can cause unwanted hair growth (in both males and females); they can cause water retention and bloating; they can cause sterility (in both males and females). Most of these effects are temporary, and will fade when use of steroids is discontinued.

Ultimately, it is as much a moral decision as a health-related one to ban steroids in most sporting competitions, being that most sports are seen as an exercise and demonstration of normal human capabilities. By allowing performance-enhancing drugs, the sport becomes less about human capability, and more about the advancement of performance-enhancing drugs.

It is also about being fair. If one athlete is allowed to use such drugs while another athlete chooses not to, it simply would not be fair competition.

It should be noted that in those sports where performance-enhancing drugs are not specifically banned, their use cannot be considered 'cheating'; they are part of the nature of those sports, rare as such sports might be.