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Well, we knew it was coming.
(CNN) -- Federal officials are expected to crack down on the supplement andro, which gained fame after baseball player Mark McGwire used the product in his record-setting 1998 season.
The Food and Drug Administration is scheduled to announce Thursday that manufacturers of andro products will have to cease production unless the makers can prove it is safe. Although andro is not a steroid and is marketed as a dietary supplement, the FDA said the health risks are the same.
Andro, or androstenedione, is a hormone that is naturally found in meat and in some plants and converted to testosterone in the human body. Some advocates say higher levels of testosterone will enable athletes to train harder and get results faster. Concentrated levels of andro are in the pills and supplements on the market.
But medical studies have shown it can have serious side effects. According to the Mayo Clinic, andro supplement use by males has been responsible for diminished sperm production, shrunken testicles, enlarged breasts, acne and decreased levels of the heart-friendly kind of cholesterol.
Unlike drugs, supplements do not have to be proven safe before going on the market, but federal authorities can act to take them off the shelves if the product's safety is called into question. The FDA blocked the sale of ephedra last year, the first time U.S. officials had taken such action against a nutritional supplement.
FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan said earlier this year that the agency was stepping up its scrutiny of the health effects of supplements and that new manufacturing and labeling regulations were in the works.
Meanwhile, Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Delaware, has sponsored legislation that would ban the newly discovered steroid THG and andro, which baseball's McGwire admits he used the season he broke the long-standing single season home run record.
"[Drug companies] have these precursors to steroids that have the same properties and also diminish health," Biden said Thursday on CNN's "American Morning." "I have had a bill for the past two years with Sen. [Orrin] Hatch that says human hormone supplements, andro and all these things should be treated like steroids."
The FDA's action comes a day after a congressional hearing in which Republicans and Democrats alike sharply criticized Major League Baseball's lax steroid testing of athletes.
At the hearing, Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig conceded that his sport has not done enough to curb use of steroids and other enhancement drugs. Selig told lawmakers he would be willing to reconsider current policy.
(CNN) -- Federal officials are expected to crack down on the supplement andro, which gained fame after baseball player Mark McGwire used the product in his record-setting 1998 season.
The Food and Drug Administration is scheduled to announce Thursday that manufacturers of andro products will have to cease production unless the makers can prove it is safe. Although andro is not a steroid and is marketed as a dietary supplement, the FDA said the health risks are the same.
Andro, or androstenedione, is a hormone that is naturally found in meat and in some plants and converted to testosterone in the human body. Some advocates say higher levels of testosterone will enable athletes to train harder and get results faster. Concentrated levels of andro are in the pills and supplements on the market.
But medical studies have shown it can have serious side effects. According to the Mayo Clinic, andro supplement use by males has been responsible for diminished sperm production, shrunken testicles, enlarged breasts, acne and decreased levels of the heart-friendly kind of cholesterol.
Unlike drugs, supplements do not have to be proven safe before going on the market, but federal authorities can act to take them off the shelves if the product's safety is called into question. The FDA blocked the sale of ephedra last year, the first time U.S. officials had taken such action against a nutritional supplement.
FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan said earlier this year that the agency was stepping up its scrutiny of the health effects of supplements and that new manufacturing and labeling regulations were in the works.
Meanwhile, Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Delaware, has sponsored legislation that would ban the newly discovered steroid THG and andro, which baseball's McGwire admits he used the season he broke the long-standing single season home run record.
"[Drug companies] have these precursors to steroids that have the same properties and also diminish health," Biden said Thursday on CNN's "American Morning." "I have had a bill for the past two years with Sen. [Orrin] Hatch that says human hormone supplements, andro and all these things should be treated like steroids."
The FDA's action comes a day after a congressional hearing in which Republicans and Democrats alike sharply criticized Major League Baseball's lax steroid testing of athletes.
At the hearing, Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig conceded that his sport has not done enough to curb use of steroids and other enhancement drugs. Selig told lawmakers he would be willing to reconsider current policy.
