Congress seeks information about steroid-testing policies

Washington, DC (Basketball News) - The Committee on Government Reform issued letters to the National Basketball Association and several other organizations on Tuesday in an effort to seek information about steroid-testing policies.

Committee chairman Tom Davis and ranking minority member Henry Waxman requested that the heads of the NBA, National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, U.S. Soccer Federation, Association of Tennis Professionals, USA Track & Field and USA Cycling turn over information regarding their respective league’s policy on steroids and steroid testing.

On March 31, a similar letter was sent to National Football League commissioner Paul Tagliabue.

Each league must provide information on the current drug testing policy and each drug testing policy that has been in place since the league began testing for performance-enhancing drugs.

In addition, Congress asked for an annual summary on all performance-enhancing drug test results since the league began testing for such drugs. Other information requested included details of the testing protocol, how random testing is done, protocol for offseason and the protocol for disclosing the identity of players who test positive.

Davis and Waxman requested that each league hand deliver two copies of this information to Capitol Hill by 6 p.m. (et) on April 12, 2005.

It was on March 17 that the same committee held a hearing to examine and ultimately criticize MLB’s steroids testing policy.