"There are real consequences to demanding anything less than clean professional and amateur sports," said McCain, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, which held a hearing on the matter. "The failure to insist on stringent drug-testing policies damages the integrity of the games, calls into question records set by those suspected of using performance-enhancing drugs, and puts in peril the health of the athletes who play the games." "But most worrisome," McCain added, "is the poor example set by professional and amateur athletes in the eyes of the kids who idolize and emulate them." Alluding to Major League Baseball's players' union apparent reluctance to agree to drug testing, Biden said Thursday: "It's bone-headed for labor not to agree for more testing. And [the] leadership of baseball is bone-headed as well. What have we done to our culture based on this notion of meritocracy?" 8th street latinas Andro is a steroid precursor, meaning the body uses it to produce testosterone. This designation has allowed it to slip through federal laws governing steroids, so it can be sold over-the-counter as a dietary supplement. "It's one of the biochemical building blocks and it has similar side effects to some steroids but it's not technically part of that exact class of drugs," says Scott Swartzwelder, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University Medical Center. He's also the author of Pumped: Straight Facts for Athletes about Drugs, Supplements, and Training. Mike in Brazil "[Steroid precursors] are dangerous," Swartzwelder adds. "They produce effects on the hormonal system, the reproductive system. They may produce central nervous system effects that result in behavioral changes. Of particular concern are the effects on children who are not yet sexually developed. FDA Commissioner McClellan cited disruption of normal sexual development, deepening of the voice, enlargement of sex organs, acne and infertility as among the irreversible health consequences of taking steroid precursors at that age.