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Congressman Heath Shuler pushes NFL, union on HGH testing

Heath Shuler

Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., walks out of a meeting to speak to reporters on the vote of House Democrats who are electing their leaders for the next Congress, Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

AP

Heath Shuler, the former NFL quarterback who’s now a member of the House of Representatives, is one of 14 members of Congress who signed a letter to Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith seeking an explanation about what the plans are for testing players for human growth hormone.

Although it was widely reported that the new labor deal would provide for blood testing for HGH, the union said last month that that wasn’t necessarily the case, and the league and the union still haven’t agreed on how HGH testing will be implemented.

Now Shuler, who’s best known outside political circles as a draft bust of the Washington Redskins, has joined other members of Congress in writing to the leaders of the two sides to ask what’s going on.

We are therefore disappointed that the testing has not yet begun,” said the letter from the Professional Sports Caucus, as reported by the New York Times. “It is important that fans, and especially your youngest fans, believe that the N.F.L. is doing all that it can to ensure the integrity of the game and the health of the players. Not testing for H.G.H. given the widespread acceptance of the science underlying it sends the wrong message.”

Many Americans believe Congress should have better things to do than micromanage drug testing in professional sports. And many Americans will read the letter’s pleading on behalf of “your youngest fans” as typical “think of the children” political grandstanding. But the fact remains that Congress has a track record of spurring leaders of sports leagues to act on drug testing. A little Congressional prodding may be what causes the league and the union to come to an agreement on HGH testing.