Final Exam Research Project 2

Radziwanowski 1
Jakub Radziwanowski
Phillips
English III Honors
3 June 2022
To What Extent Have PEDs Affected Professional Football
Performance-enhancing drugs, PEDs, have been around for over 100 years. First reported
in the late 1960s, PEDs have been a worldwide issue for football. With over 200 cases since
2001, PEDs have jeopardized not only the integrity of the game but also the health of an athlete.
PEDs can range from steroids to stimulants, and affect the body, brain, and overall health of an
individual. Although PEDs can improve and boost one's physical performance on the field, they
have extremely negative side effects which can impair and even kill an athlete.
Performance-enhancing drugs are a major problem in football as they offer unequal advantages,
endanger athletes, and create an unfair game.
PEDs severely threaten the integrity of a game as certain players have an advantage over
others. With the use of performance-enhancing drugs, players are able to double in size and
height, gaining an upper hand against those who stay clean. According to Tamara Thomas, a
writer for Gale, “NFL players have significantly grown in size and strength…In the 1960s the
average offensive lineman was 6-foot-3 and weighed 251 pounds…By 2014, some players
weighed over 400 pounds and stood as tall as seven feet. Such a dramatic increase in height and
weight cannot be explained naturally, critics say, suggesting that PEDs have likely played a
significant role” (“Preface”). Furthermore, PEDs are recognized as unethical by various
fasciculations, and policies have even been put in place to further enforce such unprincipled
behavior. April Ashby, the Director at the HCA Healthcare Physician Group, supports this claim
Radziwanowski 2
as she states, “The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
division on anti-doping believes that ‘doping jeopardizes the moral and ethical basis of sport and
the health of those involved in it.’ The National Football League itself created its steroid policy
because steroid use threatens ‘the fairness and integrity of athletic competition” (Ashby). As
further addressed by various organizations and the NFL, PEDs are a form of cheating and risk
the ethics of football.
Not only do PEDs endanger the game, but they also endanger the players and community
within. Taking any form of drugs can put an individual's body at high risk as it alters one's
physical and mental abilities. As claimed by Roman Espejo, an author for Gale, side effects
relating to PEDs include, “Rage, depression, severe acne, and baldness…liver abnormalities and
tumors, heart and circulatory impairment, cholesterol risks, and the added danger of contracting
infectious diseases, like HIV or hepatitis, from shared needles. Every one of these can be
life-threatening” ("Performance-Enhancing Drugs”). Espejo prefaces this list by explaining how
PEDs not only carry severe health risks but can even kill. Additionally, the use of PEDs in
professional football could set unrealistic standards and influence children to experiment with
drugs. According to the National Library of Medicine, “11% of teens reported using synthetic
human growth hormone within their lifetime—a 2-fold increase since 2012, while steroid use
increased from 5% to 7% in the same time frame. The most commonly cited reasons for use of
PEDs in this population are to gain an athletic advantage over peers and to improve appearance”
(White). Overall, the use of performance-enhancing drugs can result in long-term damaging
health effects and negatively influence supporters, especially the youth.
Some argue that the legalization of PEDs would help athletes achieve new milestones and
records. Although this may be true, these achievements under the influence of drugs are not
Radziwanowski 3
realistic. Using PEDs in football to obtain new accomplishments does not show true talent,
which further obstructs the main morals and ethics of the game itself. In addition, a recent
podcast debate about drugs in sports claims, “Steroids and other drugs compromise the integrity
of competitive sport as a whole; they eliminate the element of natural competition and tarnish the
tradition of sport as a wholesome cultural pastime” (“We Should”). Therefore, although
achievements can be performed under PEDs, the results would be artificial and not valid.
Performance-enhancing drugs, PEDs, in football are a crucial and growing problem. The
use of these drugs can threaten the health of athletes, offer unequal advantages, endanger and
encourage supporters to experiment with drugs, escalate drug usage, and create an unfair game.
Athletes should not be forced or feel pressured to take drugs simply to play a sport. PEDs are not
a necessity and should not be used in football, or any other professional sport.
Radziwanowski 4
Works Cited
Ashby, April. “Why Steroids Have No Place in Sports.” Marquette University Law School
Faculty Blog, 20 Oct. 2010,
law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/2010/10/why-steroids-have-no-place-in-sports/comment-p
age-1.
"Preface to 'Is Drug Use a Serious Problem in Professional Football?'."”Professional Football,
edited by Tamara Thompson, Greenhaven Press, 2016. Current Controversies. Gale In
Context: Opposing Viewpoints,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010975104/OVIC?u=rale84535&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=
fa402a25. Accessed 1 June 2022.
"Performance-Enhancing Drugs Are Dangerous." Performance-Enhancing Drugs, edited by
Roman Espejo, Greenhaven Press, 2015. Opposing Viewpoints. Gale In Context:
Opposing Viewpoints,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010934211/OVIC?u=rale84535&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=
83c38fb0. Accessed 1 June 2022.
“We Should Accept Performance-Enhancing Drugs in Competitive Sports.” Intelligence
Squared US, 18 Jan. 2022,
www.intelligencesquaredus.org/debate/we-should-accept-performance-enhancing-drugs-c
ompetitive-sports/#.
White, Nicole D, and James Noeun. “Performance-Enhancing Drug Use in Adolescence.”
National Library of Medicine, American journal of lifestyle medicine vol. 11,2 122-124.
29 Nov. 2016, doi:10.1177/1559827616680593

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Radziwanowski 1

English III Honors

To What Extent Have PEDs Affected Professional Football

endanger athletes, and create an unfair game.

significant role” (“Preface”). Furthermore, PEDs are recognized as unethical by various

the ethics of football.

life-threatening” ("Performance-Enhancing Drugs”). Espejo prefaces this list by explaining how

health effects and negatively influence supporters, especially the youth.

tradition of sport as a wholesome cultural pastime” (“We Should”). Therefore, although

Faculty Blog, 20 Oct. 2010,

"Preface to 'Is Drug Use a Serious Problem in Professional Football?'."”Professional Football,

edited by Tamara Thompson, Greenhaven Press, 2016. Current Controversies. Gale In

Context: Opposing Viewpoints,

fa402a25. Accessed 1 June 2022.

"Performance-Enhancing Drugs Are Dangerous." Performance-Enhancing Drugs, edited by

Roman Espejo, Greenhaven Press, 2015. Opposing Viewpoints. Gale In Context:

83c38fb0. Accessed 1 June 2022.

“We Should Accept Performance-Enhancing Drugs in Competitive Sports.” Intelligence

Squared US, 18 Jan. 2022,

White, Nicole D, and James Noeun. “Performance-Enhancing Drug Use in Adolescence.”

29 Nov. 2016, doi:10.1177/1559827616680593

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