Anabolic Steroids
As a society, we are preoccupied with the idea of perfection. We look up to those in magazines, in sports, and on TV. Our society is essentially one large competition. We compete for everything, whether it be a job, a grade, or a spot on a team. To be competitive is to be human, but we then ask ourselves: how far will we take this need to be superior? Some may draw the line at taking regular, over-the-counter supplements. Others may be willing to risk their health in order to improve their physical appearance as well as performance. Working out and dieting aside, many every-day gym goers, as well as professional athletes, have resorted to taking anabolic-androgen steroids. Anabolic-androgen steroids are a form of synthesized testosterone, the male hormone responsible for muscle growth and male-specific characteristics. The use of steroids has been proven to increase athletic performance while increasing muscle size and strength. However, one expert and his colleagues claims that “approximately one to three million users in the United States have abused the drug” in order to gain the sought-after “edge” over their competition (Sjoqvist 1872).
The isolation of hormones is credited to a “…German chemist, Adolf Butenandt, who in 1931 purified 15 milligrams of androstenone, a male hormone, from thousands of liters of male urine” (Hoberman 76). Only three years later, Leopold Ruzicka, a Croatian scientist, synthesized a similar form of the hormone. Soon after, it was found that the testicles, the male reproductive organ, secreted an even more powerful hormone. After years of examination, this hormone was named testosterone, from the stems testes of the male reproductive organ, sterol, a human cholesterol, and ketone, a suffix for molecules with a certain molecular composition. In the 1940’s, the production of a synthetic form of the hormone began. According to Ryan Calfee from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the use of the product...