Con

“An argument has been made that athletes should be able to take anything they like. But apart from the fact that doping is cheating, it is very dangerous. Steroids have several unpleasant side effects – Bonds’s former girlfriend says that he had acne on his back and was often impotent – but EPO is much worse. It increases energy by thickening the blood, but this makes it harder to circulate. That’s why we knew all too well when it arrived on the sporting scene. Between 1987 and 1992, seven young Swedish orienteering athletes and 20 Belgian and Dutch cyclists died mysteriously from nocturnal heart attacks.”

May 28, 2006