Local officials back bill banning supplement use

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday signed a bill banning high school athletes from using some nutritional supplements, a year after vetoing similar legislation.

The action comes after the governor was criticized for having a multimillion-dollar contract with muscle magazines that derive most of their profits from supplement companies. Critics said the arrangement posed a conflict of interest.

The bill, SB37 by state Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, prohibits high school athletes from using certain performance-enhancing supplements and requires students and parents to sign a pledge not use them. It also prohibits supplement manufacturers from sponsoring school events.

“I’m delighted that the governor has recognized the pivotal role he can play in teaching teen athletes to avoid steroids and dangerous performance-enhancing dietary supplements,” Speier said in a statement. “This bill is an outstanding model for other states grappling with the growing problem of steroids and performance-enhancing supplement abuse by teen athletes.”

The law prohibits high school athletes from taking three nutritional supplements — synephrine, ephedra and DHEA. The list does not include protein and creatine products.

Sac-Joaquin Section Commissioner Pete Saco believes the section needs to get behind Speier’s efforts and support her bill as much as possible.

“A lot of these (supplements) are relatively unknown and we need to do the best we can to educate,” Saco said. “We have to help our schools educate and say that this is not the way to get bigger, faster, and stronger. There are detrimental effects down the road.

“(This bill) is a starting point for us to attempt to get a handle on this.”

While local athletic directors, such as Jeff Johnston of Tokay High and Andy Petersen of Galt High, are in support of the bill, they wonder how much of an impact it will actually have.

“The issue is: How do you enforce it?” Johnston said. “There are huge economic impacts with regards to testing (of high school athletes) and legal issues with regards to testing. I applaud anything that tries to make kids aware of the dangers of performance enhancers, I’m just a little cautious of the practical applications.”

Peterson agrees.

“(It’s) fine and dandy banning all these items but how do you plan on enforcing it or monitoring it?” he said.

Lodi athletic director Gary Knackstedt believes the California Interscholastic Federation has already been doing its part to inform high school athletes of these dangerous substances.

“I know that the CIF is looking at steroid use as a top priority,” Knackstedt said. “(It) sounds like he’s (Schwarzenegger) a little behind the curve and just mandating it now.”

The governor’s signature came after a summer of controversy surrounding his veto of a similar Speier bill last year. Schwarzenegger was accused of having a conflict of interest after a federal securities filing in July disclosed that he would earn at least $1 million a year for five years serving as a consultant to a publisher of fitness magazines.

Much of the advertising in the magazines comes from nutritional supplement companies. Schwarzenegger gave up the contract but continues to write an advise column.

The governor made little comment about the steroids bill during a signing ceremony for a separate piece of legislation and did not take questions about it. His press aides, however, said the latest Speier bill addressed issues the governor objected to a year ago.

“This is a different bill,” said Margita Thompson, Schwarzenegger’s spokeswoman.

She said the banned substances were not clearly defined last year, an issue she said was corrected in the bill Schwarzenegger signed Friday.

In his veto message last year, Schwarzenegger said Speier’s previous bill was focused too much on dietary supplements rather than steroids, which Schwarzenegger has acknowledged using during his bodybuilding career.

The governor said in a July interview with The Associated Press that he was concerned the first Speier bill would have restricted types of supplements he considers beneficial. He said he believes strongly in the use of nutritional supplements as part of a daily diet and pledged not to sign any bill that attempts to regulate them too strictly.

Speier insisted that her bill last year did not regulate normal vitamins or protein powders.

The governor’s potential conflict of interest prompted a complaint this summer to the state’s political watchdog agency, the Fair Political Practices Commission. Agency officials declined to comment Friday on the status of their investigation.

At issue was Schwarzenegger’s agreement with American Media Inc., publisher of several muscle and fitness magazines. The agreement, signed just before Schwarzenegger became governor, called for him to be paid at least $1 million a year for five years for acting as a consultant and writing columns for the magazines, which included Flex and Muscle and Fitness.

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