While this site focuses on natural bodybuilding, the underlying message througout all of the articles is that the use of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing drugs is contrary to the integrity of our sport and, indeed, any sport. Moreover, it is dangerous and can often be fatal.On July 15, 2003, Taylor Hooton, 16, a promising high school baseball player from Texas, took his own life after using steroids. His father – Don Hooton – subsequently formed the Taylor Hooton Foundation with the mission to "educate America's youth and their adult influencers about the dangers of anabolic steroids and Appearance and Performance Enhancing Drugs (APEDS)." Further, THF's vision is to "eliminate the use of APEDS in our nation's high schools and middle schools."The natural bodybuilding movement implicitly shares a similar mission and vision seeking to influence young people by the personal example of thousands of natural bodybuilders around the world who compete at a high level without the use of performance enhancing drugs.This site is in inseparably linked with the Taylor Hooton Foundation. Therefore, we are printing a recent statement by the THF regarding the Connecticut Senate candidacy of Linda McMahon. I share with Don Hooton his concern that Mrs. McMahon has a "profound responsibility" to address steroid use in the sports and entertainment industry. Readers can form their own opinion, but I encourage your support of Hooton's Foundation and everything for which it stands. We're all on the same page.(Readers should note that Hooton is a lifelong Republican, and McMahon is running as a candidate for the Republican party, so this is not a case of parisan politics. It is much more than that).STATEMENT OF THE TAYLOR HOOTON FOUNDATION CONCERNING THE CONNECTICUT SENATE CANDIDACY OF MRS. LINDA McMAHONOct. 13, 2010, McKinney, TX—Today, Don Hooton President and Founder of the Taylor Hooton Foundation, issued this statement on behalf of the Foundation:Over the past few months the Taylor Hooton Foundation has remained largely quiet despite our concerns about the use of steroids in World Wrestling and the candidacy of Linda McMahon, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, for the US Senate from Connecticut. However, the time has come for us to make our concerns known.The Foundation is deeply alarmed about the growing trend in steroid and other performance enhancing drug use among America's young people. Experts estimate that about one million U.S. high school students —as many as 6 percent—admit that they have knowingly used anabolic steroids, a usage rate that is significantly higher than some other drugs of abuse—such as heroin and Methamphetamines—that receive a great deal of attention and effort. This number doesn't include the countless kids who have unknowingly purchased dietary supplements that have been tainted with steroids. Multiple studies have shown that upwards of 20 percent of bodybuilding supplements are illegally spiked with steroids. The increasingly competitive nature of our society is driving more of our kids to use these drugs.
Moreover, the use of steroids in the absence of a legitimate doctor's prescription is a Federal crime—they are a Schedule III Controlled Substance.The Foundation is about to launch a drive to cajole the Federal government—the Congress and the Administration—to begin to focus on this threat. At present the Federal government spends virtually no money on educating our kids about these drugs despite all of the noise that they made in various hearings where they beat up on various players and professional leagues.To be successful in our efforts to educate kids, we will need the clear support of all our Senators and Representatives, as well as the Administration. From the positions that Mrs. McMahon has taken on the topic of steroids, we doubt that we can count on her support.She has refused to concede that steroid use is dangerous. Speaking as a father who has lost his son to steroids, I can assure her and the good people of Connecticut that these drugs are not just dangerous, they can be deadly. If she would like to be educated as to how these drugs can kill young people, I would be delighted to sit down with her and tell her about our experience with my son Taylor as well as the stories of many other families that we've met around the country.Mrs. McMahon should know that our view as to the dangers of these drugs is shared by every reputable doctor not just in America, but around the world.If such statements came from the head of any other professional sports league or the Olympics that person would rightly be disgraced.As head of the WWE, McMahan has a unique, profound responsibility to address this issue head on. Just like the heads of other leagues, such as MLB and the NFL, have done. These athletes are role models and we need to be sending clear signals to our youth about the right and wrong and the dangers of these drugs.Faced with this issue, candidate McMahon has sent out her surrogates to tout WWE drug testing and wellness policies that from our perspective were and are too little, way too late.
Moreover, her reliance on a drug testing policy as a shield to criticism in the face of overwhelming circumstantial of widespread evidence of ongoing steroid and other performance enhancing drug use is deeply disturbing. Many experts who look at the World Wrestling league as a whole share our concerns that such drug use continues.And, to this point, we are troubled by a number of indications that WWE, and its former CEO Linda McMahon, may have been more involved in steroid use than just turning a blind eye. The media has reported that in the face of rage outbursts, heart attacks, strokes and suicides among fit and seemingly healthy young athletes—all strong and clear indicators of possible steroid use —the WWE's contracts include a series of clauses to protect the league from lawsuits and damaging statements concerning such occurrences.At a time when this threat is growing, we don't need a lawmaker who has actively condoned—at minimum through inaction—unlawful steroid use.We don't need a lawmaker who refuses to acknowledge the dangerous nature of these illegal drugs.
We need someone who takes seriously the responsibility of protecting the lives and health of our nation's children and the integrity of our sports.Thank you.Steroid Expert Speaks Out
by Hugh McQuaid | Oct 13, 2010 4:41pmAs the former CEO of the World Wrestling Entertainment company, Republican U.S. Senate nominee Linda McMahon has a "profound responsibility" to address steroid use in the sports and entertainment industry head-on, according to steroid abuse awareness activist Don Hooton.Hooton said that he created the Taylor Hooton Foundation to educate young people about the dangers of steroid use after his son Taylor committed suicide in 2003 because of severe depression that doctors said was a direct result of his use of anabolic steroids.A Texas resident and lifelong Republican, Hooton said during a conference call with reporters on Wednesday morning that he decided to weigh in on Connecticut's U.S. Senate race because he felt McMahon has been giving "ambiguous signals" regarding the health risks involved with anabolic steroid use."I've seen her quoted on more than one occasion, she and her husband would lead the uneducated observer to the conclusion that the medical community is not clear whether or not the drugs are dangerous," he said. "That's simply not the case."Hooton said that after an interview he gave to a Connecticut newspaper last week, he was hoping the candidate would take a strong position against the drug rather than rely on the WWE's wellness policy.
"What we got was a surrogate responding and quoting the mantra that the WWE has a policy in this regard and, to me, that doesn't address or speak squarely what we're facing here," he said."We've got about a million kids around the country that admit they have used anabolic steroids," he said, adding that one of the biggest catalysts for use of the drug is the examples set by sports and entertainment stars."Whether it's a sport or whether it's entertainment, the truth is that all of these characters that play their role out in the wrestling ring are all role models for our children."Hooton also noted that a high percentage of the young people who use the drug do so to alter their body image rather than gain a competitive advantage in sports.Muscle dysmorphia, or bigorexia, is a body image disorder that is marked by an obsessive desire to become more muscular and Hooton said he believes role models like the professional wrestlers in the WWE contribute to the problem.Despite the WWE's written policy banning steroids, Hooton said he believes steroids are a lingering problem in professional wrestling and asked people to "look with their own eyes" at the size and image of the performers."The common sense test would lead me to believe that we haven't eliminated the use of anabolic steroids in professional wrestling," he said.However, if the WWE has stopped the practice, Hooton said he's confused by McMahon's "ambiguous statements" on the matter."I wonder why Linda McMahon has such difficulty taking what appears to me to be a pretty obvious and non-controversial stand," he said. "This stuff is dangerous. It's illegal. Adults shouldn't be doing it, let alone the children of this country."Hooton, who testified before Congress in 2005 as an expert witness on the subject of steroid abuse, said that next week his foundation will be launching an aggressive campaign to lobby the government to raise awareness of the subject."We'll try to cajole, push, kick, lead, whatever we have to do to get the federal government to begin investing in education on this topic with our kids," he said.Given the lack of clarity in the statements she has made about the drug, Hooton said he doubts that McMahon, as a senator, would be an ally to his cause."We need to air this issue out now, before the election as opposed to after," he said.At the time this article was written the McMahon campaign would not take calls regarding the issue and had yet to respond to emails for comment.Read more: Health
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