were using testosterone, which carried with it negative side effects, and anabolic steroids were developed as a solution. the drugs have been used across a wide range of sports from football and basketball to weightlifting and track and field. while not as life-threatening as the drugs used in endurance sports, anabolic steroids have negative side effects, including: side effects in men acne impaired liver function impotency breast formation (gynecomastia) increase in oestrogen suppression of spermatogenesis: as endogenous testosterone is the major regulator of the hpg axis, the exogenous testosterone and androgen anabolic steroids exert a suppressive effect of lh and fsh, leading to a decrease in intratesticular and secreted testosterone, decrease in spermatogenesis and sperm production. lack of libido and erectile dysfunction: especially occurs in those men abusing aromatisable androgen anabolic steroids, resulting in high oestrogen levels. although physiological levels of oestrogens are necessary for normal sexual function, the high doses and the imbalance between testosterone and estradiol appear to be the cause of sexual dysfunction. increased sex drive male pattern baldness risk of heart failure side effects in women hair loss male pattern baldness hypertrophy of the clitoris increased sex drive irregularities of the menstrual cycle development of masculine facial traits increased coarseness of the skin premature closure of the epiphysis deepening of the voice in countries where the use of these drugs is controlled, there is often a black market trade of smuggled or counterfeit drugs. the quality of these drugs may be poor and can cause health risks. in countries where anabolic steroids are strictly regulated, some have called for regulatory relief. anabolic steroids are available over-the-counter in some countries such as thailand and mexico. sports that are members of the ioc also enforce drug regulations; for example bridge. reaction from sports organizations many sports organizations have banned the use of performance-enhancing drugs and have very strict rules and penalties for people who are caught using them. the international amateur athletic federation, now world athletics, was the first international governing body of sport to take the situation seriously. in 1928 they banned participants from doping, but with little in the way of testing available they had to rely on the word of the athlete that they were clean. it was not until 1966 that fifa and union cycliste internationale (cycling) joined the iaaf in the fight against drugs, followed by the international olympic committee the following year. progression in pharmacology has always outstripped the ability of sports federations to implement rigorous testing procedures but since the creation of the world anti-doping agency in 1999, it has become more effective to catch athletes who use drugs. the first tests for athletes were at the 1966 european championships and two years later the ioc implemented their first drug tests at both the summer and winter olympics. anabolic steroids became prevalent during the 1970s and after a method of detection was found they were added to the ioc's prohibited substances list in 1975, after which the 1976 summer olympics in montreal were the first olympic games which tested for them. over the years, different sporting bodies have evolved differently in the struggle against doping. some, such as athletics and cycling, are becoming increasingly vigilant against doping. however, there has been criticism that sports such as football (soccer) and baseball are doing nothing about the issue, and letting athletes implicated in doping get away unpunished. some commentators maintain that, as outright prevention of doping is an impossibility, all doping should be legalised. however, most disagree with this, pointing out the claimed harmful long-term effects of many doping agents. opponents claim that with doping legal, all competitive athletes would be compelled to use drugs, and the net effect would be a level playing field but with widespread health consequences. a common rebuttal to this argument asserts that anti-doping efforts have been largely ineffective due to both testing limitations and lack of enforcement, and so sanctioned steroid use would not be markedly different from the situation already in existence. another point of view is that doping could be legalized to some extent using a drug whitelist and medical counseling, such that medical safety is ensured, with all usage published. under such a system, it is likely that athletes would attempt to cheat by exceeding official limits to try to gain an advantage; this could be considered conjecture as drug amounts do not always correlate linearly with performance gains. the influence of popular culture social pressures social pressure is one of the factors that leads to doping in sport. the media and society work together to construct a view of what masculinity and femininity should look like. adolescent athletes are constantly influenced by what they see on the media, and some go to extreme measures to achieve the ideal image since society channels judith butler's definition of gender as a performative act. examples of social pressures were given in a study done on an online bodybuilding community where bodybuilders doped because they felt like it was a rite of passage to be accepted into the community, and to feel validated. both men and women are being materialized in the context of doping in sport; in an interview involving 140 men, it was concluded that "bodily practices are essential for masculine identity," and it was determined that the media highly publicizes female athletes who were strong, and thin. this leads to the issue of the consumption of performance enhancement drugs to achieve muscular or thin figures, and the assumption that the opponents are also taking performance-enhancing drugs, deeming it as an acceptable behavior to conform to. in addition, society's embracement of the "winning is everything" spirit leads many athletes to participate in doping, hoping that they will not be caught. physical pressures elite athletes have financial competitive motivations that cause them to dope and these motivations differ from that of recreational athletes. the common theme among these motivations is the pressure to physically perform. in a study of 101 individuals, 86% responded that their use of performance enhancement drugs were influenced by the potential athletic success, 74% by the economic aspect, and 30% by self-confidence and social recognition related reasons. in another study of 40 people, it was concluded that athletes used performance enhancement drugs for healing purposes so that they were an able competitor for the economic rewards involved with elite sports. physical pressures often overlap with social pressures to have a certain body build. this is the case with muscle dysmorphia, where an athlete wants a more muscular physique for functionality and self- image purposes. the most popular motive for athletes to take supplements is to prevent any nutrient deficiencies and to strengthen the immune system. these factors all focus on improving the body for performance. psychological motivations psychology is another factor to take into consideration in doping in sport. it becomes a behavioral issue when the athlete acknowledges the health risks associated with doping, yet participates in it anyway. this has to do with the psychological thinking that the drug will make one feel invincible. the individuals are very egotistic in their way of thinking and their motivation is dependent on the performance enhancement drug since they believe that it delivers the results. on a study on health psychology, quirk points out three different psychological aspects that lead one to dope: social cognition, stress and strain, and addiction. the social and physical pressures can alter an athlete's way of thinking, leading them to believe that they must take performance enhancement drugs since everyone else is doing it, known as "the doping dilemma." anti-doping organizations and legislation in 1999, initiated by the international olympic committee to fight against doping in sport, the world anti-doping agency had been founded. after the doping scandal in cycling in the summer 1998 the international olympic committee (ioc) decided to establish the wada to promote, coordinate and monitor the fight of against doping in sport. the headquarters for wada is in montreal, canada. the wada is the supreme international authority and is allowed to do doping tests and can determine which substances are illegal. in february 2011, the united states olympic committee and the ad council launched an anti-steroid campaign called play asterisk free aimed at teens. the campaign first launched in 2008 under the name "don't be an asterisk!". in october 2012, the usada released evidence to corroborate their doping claim against cyclist lance armstrong. according to usada ceo travis t. tygart, the evidence against armstrong includes, "...scientific data and laboratory test results that further prove the use, possession and distribution of performance enhancing drugs". on 1 november 1989, us senator joseph biden introduced s. 1829, the steroid trafficking act of 1989. the purpose of the act was simple: it would "amend the controlled substances act to further restrict the use of steroids. by designating anabolic steroids as a schedule ii controlled substance, the bill would crack down on illegal steroid use". (senate judiciary committee, 2002, p. 282). in january 2021, the government of kenya unanimously passed the anti-doping bill into law that will enable the country to comply with the world 2021 anti-doping code. test methods urine test urine doping sampling security bottles under established doping control protocols, the athlete will be asked to provide a urine sample, which will be divided into two, each portion to be preserved within sealed containers bearing the same unique identifying number and designation respectively as a- and b-samples. an athlete whose a-sample has tested positive for a prohibited substance is requested an analysis of his or her b-sample after a confirmation test on sample a that delivered the same results. if the b-sample test results match the a-sample results, then the athlete is considered to have a positive test, otherwise, the test results are negative. this confirmation process ensures the safety of the individual. blood test see also: blood doping the blood test detects illegal performance enhancement drugs through the measurement of indicators that change with the use of recombinant human erythropoietin: hematocrit reticulocytes level of iron gas chromatography-combustion-irms the gas chromatography-combustion-irms is a way to detect any variations in the isotopic composition of an organic compound from the standard. this test is used to detect whether or not synthetic testosterone was consumed, leading to an increased abnormal testosterone/epitestosterone (t/e) level. assumptions: 98.9% of the carbon atoms in nature are 12c the remaining 1.1% are 13c the lower the 13c to 12c ratio, the more likely that synthetic testosterone was used. athlete biological passport the athlete biological passport is a program that tracks the location of an athlete to combat doping in sports. this means that the athlete can be monitored and drug tested wherever they are and this data can be compared to the history of their doping test results. there is an ongoing discussion about how this measure can be seen as a violation of an individual's privacy. re-testing of samples according to article 6.5 in the world anti-doping code samples may be re-tested later. samples from high-profile events, such as the olympic games, are now re-tested up to eight years later to take advantage of new techniques for detecting banned substances. cheating the tests athletes seeking to avoid testing positive use various methods. the most common methods include: urine replacement, which involves replacing dirty urine with clean urine from someone who is not taking banned substances. urine replacement can be done by catheterization or with a prosthetic penis such as the original whizzinator. diuretics, used to cleanse the system before having to provide a sample (which have also been placed in lists of banned substances themselves to circumvent this practice). blood transfusions, which increase the blood's oxygen carrying capacity, in turn increasing endurance without the presence of drugs that could trigger a positive test result. to avoid being tested during training periods, athletes can make themselves unavailable. to mitigate this, athletes have to report their location at any time. if intended doping tests could not be done because the athlete could not be found, three times during a year, it's considered a doping violation, same as refusing a test. there is a website and a phone app, called adams, in which athletes are expected to report their location. validity donald berry, writing in the journal nature, has called attention to potential problems with the