Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) have issued a Senate “Dear Colleague” letter encouraging their colleagues to co-sponsor the recently introduced Designer Anabolic Steroid Control Act (DASCA) 0f 2014.
The bill would empower the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) with new tools to identify and quickly respond when new designer anabolic steroids are introduced and falsely marketed as dietary supplements.
The letter states that “designer steroids are produced by slightly modifying the chemical composition of existing illegal steroids so that the new product is not on the DEA list of controlled substances. Designer steroids can cause serious medical consequences, including liver injury and increased risk of heart attack and stroke.”
If approved by the Senate, the DASCA would immediately place 27 known designer anabolic steroids on the list of controlled substances. The act also establishes new penalties for importing, manufacturing, or distributing anabolic steroids under false pretenses, according to the correspondence.
The bipartisan DASCA is supported by the American Herbal Products Association, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, the Council for Responsible Nutrition, the Natural Products Association, the Natural Products Alliance and the United States Anti-Doping Agency.
For more information on the proposed bill, visit www.senate.gov.
