Congress Passes Steroid Control Act

WASHINGTON--The House of Representatives on Friday, Oct. 8, passed SB 2195, the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2004; the same version of the bill passed the Senate by unanimous consent on Oct. 6. The House had previously passed its own version of this bill, co-authored by Sens. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), but decided to take up the Senate version to ensure passage in Congress. The bill was cleared for the White House, where President Bush is expected to sign the legislation into law very soon.

Biden and Hatch originally introduced the bill in March, and Biden held a hearing on the topic in July. The bill classifies steroid precursors, such as androstenedione, as controlled substances; however, the bill provides an exception for dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA).

"Under this bill, clever chemists will no longer be able to dodge the law by disguising their chemicals to skirt the legal definition of a steroid," Hatch said in a statement after the bill's passage. "Our bill gives the Drug Enforcement Agency the power to schedule nearly any steroid precursor now or in the future--giving the law flexibility we don't have to play catch-up with every new andro look-alike that comes along."