Hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Panel II - Report on Performance Enhancing Substances in Major League Baseball

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REP. LYNCH: I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

Commissioner and Mr. Fehr, I just want to say at the outset that a lot of progress has been made, and I want to congratulate you both on that. I remember the last hearing -- we were looking at a collective bargaining agreement that actually allowed a player to leave in the middle of his drug -- his urine test and leave unmonitored and then come back an hour later for no apparent reason. It also allowed players to pay a $10,000 fine rather than be suspended, which I thought that was a slap on the wrist. All of that has changed, and it has changed because of the collective bargaining agreement and the whole collective bargaining process that you've engaged in. And I want to congratulate you on that, and I think it needs to be said here publicly.

But look, I'm a former union president, and I've negotiated a fair number of contracts myself. And I always viewed -- even though I was representing the iron workers who are a heck of a lot less well- paid, I guess, than the union members you're representing, I always felt that the -- well, I was always one of the biggest advocates for a drug-free workplace. And I felt that was my rightful position, representing the best interests of the people that I represented.

And I do want to just note one thing: This Mitchell report, which was well done, did note one bit of new information, and I think it deserves recognition by both of you, and that is he said that -- in the report -- that while steroid use was down considerably -- and that's a good thing -- he said HGH is on the rise. It is on the rise.

Now, I think that deserves some type of acknowledgment in your agreement. And I respect the sanctity of the collective bargaining agreement, but here's information we didn't have when you sat down. And I know this current agreement goes from 2007 to 2011 -- December of 2011. That's the next time -- unless we reopen this agreement -- that's the next time we're going to be presented with an opportunity to change the drug testing protocol in this agreement. And you know, I know that Gary Wadler testified last time we were here about the fact that HGH blood testing was used at the Athens Olympics in 2004. And you know, that's the World Anti-Doping Agency -- a fairly reputable outfit regarding drug testing. And I just think there's a way here to get at that. We know it's on the rise, we know it's being used in the sport. We've got to get at it.

So I'm going to ask each of you -- we know it's a problem. There's some testing protocols -- oh, and I just want to get at -- I understand Mr. Fehr's comments earlier on. You're saying there's no valid testing protocol right now that's commercially available. I think Mr. Wadler would -- Dr. Wadler would disagree with that. And you're saying that you don't want to test for it until something's out there. And here's my response to that: Number one, you have banned it in your agreement. It says HGH is a banned substance under your current collective bargaining agreement, but you're not testing for it. All I'm saying is, test for it now. Test for it now. Get the blood samples. Okay? And when the test becomes commercially effective, if that's your objection, we'll be able to test these retroactively. And I bet you -- I just know that these players, if they know they're being tested for HGH, you'll see the incidence of use drop just like you did with steroids when we started testing for that.

Commissioner?

MR. SELIG: Thank you, Congressman Lynch. If I can just add -- I don't disagree with much of what you've said. Our deal with the USOC, which you probably read about last week, is -- that's exactly what this is about. We -- there's no question that -- and I agree with Senator Mitchell -- the use of HGH is on the rise. In my meetings with trainers and doctors, frankly, that's a subject that I spend a lot of time on.

I guess what I would say to you today is that according to our experts, one of whom -- Dr. Green -- is sitting right behind me, there is no commercially available test today. Maybe there will be one in two or three months. I can speak from our perspective because I am so concerned -- I'm frustrated by HGH and the lack of a test. It has been -- you know, we're funding Dr. Kaplan with the National Football League. We've done a lot of other things. There -- I cannot tell you my level of frustration about this.

So if there comes a test that's available, as I said in my statement, I think that I -- we would have to have very meaningful, expeditious discussions because I believe that if we're serious about it -- and I think we all are -- that we would adopt that test, and we'd adopt it as soon as it's available.

So as for the storing of these things, I'm --

REP. LYNCH: Commissioner, I guess you're missing my point. I'm saying if we take the samples now --

MR. SELIG: I'm going to get to that right now.

REP. LYNCH: Okay.

MR. SELIG: According to the people that I've talked to and we've talked to -- Dr. Green, Chris Nayat (sp), the head of the Montreal Laboratory -- there has been a feeling that storing samples is not practical. I'm not a medical expert. Frankly if there was a way to do it, I'm not adverse (sic) to doing that. But I've taken the best medical advice that I can get from people, and they tell me that at least for the moment, that is not the way to do it.

Look, I -- if I really felt that there was a way to do it and it would really do what you say it would do -- and I believe that may be right -- of course we'd do it. So I have to be guided by our -- the head of the labs and everybody else, and if they think it's doable, then it's something that we will seriously consider.

REP. LYNCH: All right. Fair enough, Commissioner.

Mr. Fehr?

MR. FEHR: Thank you. First of all, I don't know personally whether Senator Mitchell is right that the players have switched to HGH because we had workable testing for steroids. Certainly wouldn't surprise me -- that's an old story in athletics, where people move on to the next available drug. And I'd indicated in my testimony in response to other questions things which I think we can do about that.

I am not aware of any test or any protocol that says you can store and then test at a later time, and it troubles me to do that. And I would just remind everybody -- although I don't want to bring unnecessarily someone else into a hearing -- we had issues -- we, meaning this country -- had issues with stored samples that were looked at years later in Lance Armstrong's case in France. So all I can tell you is that when a scientifically valid and effective test is available or some other procedure that the medical experts tell us we can rely on, then we have to look at it very hard, and we will.

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