The new NFL collective bargaining agreement, which was officially ratified by players on Thursday, contains a historic provision. NFL players will be subject to random blood testing for human growth hormone, a performance-enhancing substance that traditional urine tests cannot detect. The NFL is the first major U.S. professional sports league to implement HGH testing of its top players.
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Players could be subject to random tests as early as Week 1 of the regular season. The union must be comfortable with the testing procedures — essentially, getting pricked by a needle is way more invasive than peeing in a bottle — giving the players what seems like an easy out. But the players risk a serious PR hit if they back out now, since accepting HGH blood testing is the right thing to do.
No drug testing system is perfect. And who knows what doping concoctions today’s shady chemists are coming up with. But at this point, the HGH blood test is the best one out there.
The NFL’s move could force the hand of the sport most adversely affected by steroids – baseball. While baseball’s testing protocols have improved drastically over the past ten years, the sport still does not subject it’s big-leaguers to blood tests (last year, baseball installed the tests for minor leaguers). Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement expires in December. The union has long resisted blood testing, saying that it’s invasive and undependable. But if football players, whose livelihoods often depend on their strength and massiveness, can subject themselves to HGH blood tests, what will be baseball’s excuse?
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Sean Gregory is a staff writer at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @seanmgregory. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.