Why Do Anabolic Steroids Be Banned?

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Recently there has been huge controversy surrounding renowned sportsmen and women testing positive for various banned performance-enhancing drugs (hereafter referred to as PEDs) and consequently being suspended or barred from their chosen sport. Notable cases include professional road racing cyclist Lance Armstrong in 2012 and tennis player Maria Sharapova in early 2016. In 1928 the international governing body for athletics, the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) became the first institution to ban performance-enhancing substances in competitive sport. The legality of these substances (banned substances such as growth hormones, anabolic steroids and amphetamines) has been cause for serious ethical debate for many years. The ban on these drugs is however completely unfounded.
Competitive sport strives to push the envelope of human ability. Usain Bolt, current world record holder for the 100m Olympic sprint set the fastest time of 9.69 seconds at the 2008 summer Olympic Games in Beijing. Exactly 100 years prior, South African runner Reggie Walker tied the world record of 10.8 seconds. It is evident that competitive sportsmen and women are constantly improving because of
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This argument is baseless, as athletes are constantly exploiting ways to gain an advantage over their peers – be it through rigorous training or using the latest equipment such as breathable apparel or highly advanced footwear. Additionally, some athletes naturally have an ‘unfair’ advantage, be it because of talent or genetics. If PEDs are to be banned on grounds of providing an unfair advantage, then individual preferences regarding preparation and equipment should be too. Furthermore, unbanning these drugs would level the playing field, as they would become available to all competitors equally – ensuring a better performing, yet fairer matchup at sporting