Ephedra Should Not be Banned
Almost everyone loves professional sports. People love to watch awesome athletes competing fiercely against each other. But now, more than ever, to make it in this world you have to be the best of the best. And people will go to many extreme lengths to be this way. The use of steroids in professional sports is becoming more and more popular. The latest way to lose weight, boost energy, and gain a more competitive edge is by using nutritional supplements like the newest one; ephedra. Ephedra causes decreased appetite and burns calories, which results in weight loss. Ephedra exploded onto the scene in February of 2003 after a Baltimore Oriole’s pitcher died of heat stroke from using ephedra. It is not only used by athletes but now usage is particularly high because younger athletes want to be bigger, stronger, and faster and older athletes need to remain in shape and competitive. Anything that occurs naturally is considered a food, as is ephedra. This means that ephedra does not have to be proven safe of efficient before being put on the market. The NFL, the NCAA and the Olympics have all decided to ban ephedra. But supporters of ephedra say that when used properly is safe and effective in weight loss and energy gain. They think it should be kept on the market for people who want to use it safely. On the other hand people against ephedra feel that since ephedra increases heart rate, speeds up the metabolism and reduces the body's ability to cool itself that it is very dangerous and should be classified under the category of amphetamines, which are illegal drugs, and therefore should be banned.
I think that ephedra should not be banned. Since they are illegal in sports I feel that before you are able to try out for a team you should have to have a drug test and each week they should require everyone in high school, college, and professional sports to have to take a test too.
Are young athletes being pushed too far to always perform at higher and higher expectations? Taking vitamins are highly recommended by doctors, but there are some supplements that are illegal for use in high school sports. New pre-workout supplements cause new high school drug policies, research into both the active ingredients and short/long term effects of these products. These pre-workouts are this generation’s steroids and can have side effects that are just as dangerous. Their purpose is to provide you with a burst of quick and long lasting energy, increased blood flow, muscle growth, and faster recovery periods. Their popularity is growing faster than the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can research them and provide more information on what these products truly do to your body, such as whether they are actually safe for young adult athletes to use.
Kuhn, C., Swartzwelder, S., and Wilson, W. Pumped: Straight Facts for Athletes about Drugs, Supplements, and Training. 2000. W.W. Norton, New York and London.
The problems with performance enhancing drugs are that they give the user unfair advantages over other athletes and come with many health risks such as baldness. Steroid use can result in very substantial legal consequences and can ruin the user’s reputation. There are many alternatives to steroids but not all of them are safe. Different organizations have different rules on steroids, but in most cases, the user can get suspended, fined, or even both. Various types of steroids can have various short-term or long-term side effects. There are several types of steroids, the most popular ones being anabolic steroids. Historically, steroids have been around for many years, but the debate surrounding them started recently, more specifically a few decades ago. An important term to know is anabolic steroids which are made to work with the user’s muscle mass. Another term to know is clarified by Ida Walker, author of the book, Steroids: Pumped Up and Dangerous, published by Mason Crest Publishers in 2008, defines, peliosis hepatis is a rare condition in which cysts filled with blood form in the liver, if the cysts were to pop then internal bleeding would occur. A positive argument about steroids is stated by Adrianne Blue, author of the essay, “Performance Enhancing Drugs Should Be Legal,” published in the book Athletes and Drug Use, published in 2009, disputes, “Blue concludes that legalizing performance- enhancing drugs can protect athletes from dangerously abusing them.” The utilization of performance enhancing drugs has left a giant scar on sports and has compromised the achievements of many athletes; therefore, they are transforming the sports world into a drug filled world.
You’ve all seen them, the enormously large muscle-heads at the gym, the participates of the World’s Strongest Man Competition, the amazing offensive tackles, and the lightning fast runners. They were all unnaturally strong, and looked like gods. You tend to obsess over how beautiful their bodies are, how strong they are, or how fast they can run. All you can think about is reaching that level of athletic excellence, and nothing will hold you back. At times like these some people tend to take the quick fit to get closer to their idols, in the form of steroids. But what individuals tend not see is the horrible side effects that accompany the use of these anabolic steroids. These powerful drugs have both positive and negative results from their use. Along with increased strength and size, users of steroids suffer from a wide range of sicknesses such as cancer, shrinkage of testicles, bad acne, hair loss, damage organs, intense mood swings, and impotence.
Washington Irving wrote Rip Van Winkle with the American people in mind. At this time society was changing drastically. America was attempting to go through a struggle with forming their own identity. America was wanting to have an identity that would set them free from English culture and rule. Irving uses his main character, Rip Van Winkle, to symbolize America. Rip goes through the same struggles that America was going through at this time before and after the Revolution. Irving uses such great symbolism in this story to describe the changes that American society went through. This story covers a wide variety of time periods including: America before English rule, early American colonies under English rule, and America after the Revolutionary War.
The intent of this essay is to show that steroids have many negative effects and that steroids, and other natural supplements, should be closely studied by the FDA. This essay will also support the claim that the professional sports industry needs to eliminate steroid use and set a good example for younger athletes.
Spending money on public universities is a problem mainly because the students attending said universities come from families that could easily pay for private schooling. However, since families see that public universities are getting a large amount of funding they chose to send their students there and save their money instead of spending more on a private education. “In Brazil the public universities have just 2% of all pupils in the education system, but get 25% of its funds” (Education in Latin America: Cramming them in). Even though universities should get funding, it should not be receiving a significant amount if such a low percentage of students are attending. That money from the existing funds can be spent towards enhancing and remodeling school buildings for students in primary and secondary levels. To go along with classroom resources, schools in Latin American countries also has many “poorly trained teachers” which means “education spending in Latin America is wasted” (Education in Latin America: Cramming them in). Instead of paying someone who has a college degree or is qualified to teach, schools hire untrained and unqualified teachers to do the job. Unlike the United States, Latin American countries do not focus on training teachers or teacher aides in safety regulations, teaching strategies, classroom management, etc. Having a poorly trained teacher adds onto the school’s disorganization. To work in a school in the U.S one must have some sort of high school diploma if not some college education or college degree. Ham and Castillo write, “Honduran teachers had no more than a high school education, and about half had nine or fewer years of formal schooling.” Although
My issue over the concern of athletes have been struggling with the usage of steroids has widely spread among athletes and others; not only do steroids give an athlete a hard times but it’s also an unfair advantage to the other athletes and what they’ve accomplish. “Besides making muscles bigger, anabolic steroids may help athletes recover from a hard workout more quickly by reducing the amount of muscle damage during the session” (“Steroids in Sports”,2005). Now a days steroids are everywhere as an athlete. Many males and female young athletes preferably take it because they want to look and feel good when it comes to impressing someone and trying to become someone they look forward too. Young teens and adults try to cheat themselves in the career of their dreams. When it comes to a sport, teen athletes are not aware of what type of consequences may happen to them at the time. It may come to the time where it’s too late to take care of. In other cases, some athletes may like feeling the aggressive they get when they take drugs such as steroids. Athletes shouldn’t take steroids as the harmful health effects of the anabolic steroid in population wise. Many people have had their lives ruined by the use of illegal steroids and yet the desired effects are overwhelming that people tend to forget about the results and consequences that may effect. Athletes on steroids believe taking steroids will enhance their performance, strength, and size without having to put necessary work. These benefits, however, are associated with much short-term and long term risk.
Every athlete dreams of becoming the best player in their sport. For most athletes, this dream was created in their childhood watching their favorite player perform at great levels to achieve success. Most athletes will stop at anything to achieve success, even if that means breaking the rules. An athlete whether the biggest, fastest, or strongest, will always look for something that will give them and extra edge over everybody else, even if that means performance enhancing drugs. With new records being broken day by day, I believe performance-enhancing drugs should be legal in all professional sports.
Strauss, Valerie. "Where U.S. Stands in Education Internationall." Washington Post. N.p., 25 June 2013. Web. 15 Mar. 2014.
Performance-enhancing drugs should continue to be banned from professional sports because they have side effects that athletes may be unaware of, there is a disadvantage to athletes that do use PED’s and it is unfair to previous athletes who hold records. Individuals may disagree and argue that we should revoke the ban so we will be able to monitor it more safely. If the ban on performance-enhancing drugs was to be lifted who knows what the next illegal drug to become legal will be.
Companies that carry out greenwashing commonly use the words, ‘green’, ‘energy efficient’, and ‘clean’ to expo...
Steroids became an option to athletes in the Olympics and other major sporting events during the 1950’s. But this use of steroids among athletes only became widely apparent when Canadian sprint runner Ben Johnson tested positive for steroid use after winning the gold medal for the one hundred-meter dash during the 1988 Olympics (Francis, 45). Now a skinny fifteen-year-old can just walk down to the local gym and find people who either sell or know how to get in contact with those who sell the drug that will make him envious of his friends. Steroids are an attractive drug. While steroids seem harmless to the unaware user, they can have a risky effect. Most of the time whether the users are new or experienced, they do not know the dangerous consequences steroids can have on their bodies and their minds. Though steroids cause a relatively insignificant number of deaths in our society, the banning of steroids is justified because steroids have a lot of side effects not known to the uninformed user.
With the development of the science and technology, more and more people are going for healthy and green products. According to this situation, there are many companies claim their products are “green”. However, there are thousands of so-called “green” products, but not all of them live up to their claims, a considerable part of products not only damage the human’s body, but also pollute the environment. People called these companies “greenwashing”. Greenwashing refers to the practice of deceiving consumers into believing that a company is practicing environmentally friendly policies and procedures. Seems like anything and everything has “gone green” these days. Such as airlines, car companies, retailers, restaurants, even networks and stadiums. Thankfully, more often than not, that’s a good thing. It is only bad if it is greenwashing — that is bad for the environment and consumers, because of businesses doing the greenwashing.
The moment we stepped foot into the hospital, I could hear my aunt telling my mother that “he is in a better place now”. At that moment, something had already told me that my dad was deceased; it was like I could feel it or something. I felt the chills that all of a sudden came on my arms. As my mother and grandmother were both holding my hand, they took me into this small room. The walls were white, and it had a table with four tissue boxes sitting on the top. My other grandmother was there, and so were my two aunts, my uncles, and