MLB Warns Players on the Use of New Performance Enhancing Effects from Unlikely Source

AJ Gonzalez 08/21/2019

1 1 minute read

If you’ve been absent from social media today, you missed quite the bombshell tweet by Jeff Passan today.

The use of gas-station sexual-enhancement pills in baseball is so prevalent that MLB sent out a memo warning players that their use could lead to positive PED tests, as at least two players have claimed this year, sources tell ESPN. News: https://t.co/WD0gXgmXgs

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 21, 2019

Yes–those pills. The ones you typically see at the check out counter of your local AM/PM. It’s a bizarre subject matter. In the piece, Passan says MLB issued a league wide memo to all major and minor league players. The memo was then redistributed again by the MLB players association (to ensure every play read it.) The memo contained very clear language.

“these products are often contaminated with prohibited and unsafe ingredients. Sexual or male enhancement products present a very real risk for drug-tested players, and the high likelihood for contamination or unidentified ingredients in these products underscores the importance of consuming only those products that are NSF Certified for Sport.”

Passan goes on to say that at least two players this year were suspended for PED’s. These prohibited substance found in the urine tests came from products that were not FDA regulated.

Hard Safety Issues

The supplement industry is a massive industry that is unregulated. The supplement industry is estimated to be worth 30 billion dollars worldwide. Without the FDA to regulate these supplements, there are often potentially, or proven to be, ingredients that can be very harmful. This is beyond the fact that they often contain ingredients listed as PED’s when tested. Men often do not want to seek medication of this kind from doctors. It’s a soft subject. This can leave players caught between a rock, and well, a hard place. It’s not worth jeopardizing their careers over, though. It is certainly not worth jeopardizing their overall health, either.