12:06 AM PDT on Monday, May 23, 2005

By BRAD CAIN, Associated Press Writer

SALEM -- As a doctor who has practiced sports medicine for years, Dr. Thad Stanford says he has heard of children as young as 10 using performance-enhancing nutritional supplements.

"There's no question that it is widespread. If kids think these substances are going to make a difference, they will take them," Stanford says.

The Salem orthopedist worries that the supplements — which can make student athletes stronger and faster — may also be having long-term ill effects on young people's health.

Stanford and others recently persuaded the Oregon Senate to pass legislation to bar coaches from encouraging students to use performance-enhancing supplements. An Oregon House panel is set to hear the bill Monday.

Similar legislation has been approved in Michigan, Illinois and Texas, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.

"We think it's a good idea," spokesman Jerry Diehl said from the group's office in Indianapolis. "Coaches do have a captive audience. Generally students will do whatever the coach asks, because they want to participate in sports."

The debate over the bill comes in the midst of professional baseball's steroids scandal and at a time when use of performance-enhancing supplements by high school athletes is causing concern around the country.

Under current law it's illegal to use unprescribed steroids or human growth hormones for performance enhancement.

The Oregon legislation takes aim at dietary supplements such as creatine, which boosts strength, muscle mass and endurance. But, according to some medical studies, creatine can also cause kidney, liver and heart problems.

Last year, in a statewide survey of high school athletes in Iowa, more than 90 percent said they had used nutritional supplements to improve their performance.

There's been no similar survey in Oregon, but a spokesman for the Oregon School Activities Association believes there's an urgent need to protect young athletes from nutritional supplements, which are unregulated by the Food and Drug Administration.

"The problem is, some of these substances are so new that the medical world doesn't know what long-term negative effects they have," Tom Welter said.

The measure doesn't keep the supplements out of the hands of young athletes, but supporters say it sends a message to coaches and others in a position of responsibility that they should not encourage students to use those supplements.

The bill prohibits coaches, school administrators, teachers, employees and volunteers from "promoting, suggesting, or supplying performance-enhancing supplements to students." Offenders would face a maximum of three months in jail or a $500 fine, or both.

The bill was prompted in part by reports that a South Eugene High School football coach in 2003 offered a creatine-based supplement to his players.

A leading backer of the legislation, Senate President Peter Courtney, said some high school athletes resort to the nutritional supplements in hopes of improving their chances to earn athletic scholarships.

"Some students see athletic success as their way to a college education that might otherwise be unachievable," the Salem Democrat says. "In all, I think the pressure to succeed in sports can sometimes be too great."

Stanford, meanwhile, said he is ready to make his case for the bill when the House Education Committee opens hearings on it Monday.

The Salem doctor believes parents, coaches and others need to strongly encourage student athletes to rely on proper nutrition and physical conditioning — not dietary supplements — to become better athletes.

"We don't want our kids solving their problems with pills," he said.