McCain Pushes HGH Tests For NFL Players

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) asked Thursday for hearings before a Senate panel to address why the NFL players union refuses to allow testing for human-growth hormone to begin.

The NFL and the NFL Players Association agreed to implement HGH testing in a new collective bargaining agreement signed in the summer.

But the players' union has wrangled since then on how to implement the testing system, and it remains on hold, irking several members of Congress who have pressured the NFL to include HGH screening in its drug program.

McCain, in a letter to the Senate Commerce Committee, targeted the NFLPA for intentionally "delaying" the implementation of the testing.

He argued the result will be "another season completed without fans having the confidence that the game is clean."

"Public doubt about the NFLPA's commitment to ensuring that the game is played cleanly undermines consumer confidence in the entertainment product they sell," McCain went on.

"Even worse, it begins to reverse the significant progress being made to rid sports at all levels, and particularly among young athletes, of the impression that illegal performance enhancing substances are harmful."

Since signing the new labor pact, the league and union have quibbled about what method of testing should be used. The NFL has proposed using the same tests conducted on Olympic athletes by the World Anti-Doping Association (WADA), but the NFLPA has questioned the reliability of the test.

In his letter, McCain included statements from WADA Director General David Howman, giving his assurance that the test is reliable.

"The Players Association dismissed the standing of international scientific experts who testified in an open letter to the validity and accuracy of the HGH test," Howman wrote.

"Without the support of these agencies and individual experts, there is no foundation for anti-doping protocols anywhere in athletics. Simply put, if the public cannot rely on WADA, then there is no one left to ensure clean competition and the integrity of sport."

CBS Sports reported Saturday that the NFLPA made a new proposal to the NFL on the matter about a month ago, but was no longer questioning whether the Olympic-style testing would be considered valid.

The proposal, unlikely to be deemed acceptable by the NFL or Congress, called for 10 percent of players to be tested each offseason and for players to receive 24 hours notice about the test. Players would also have the option of refusing to be tested, and a player would have to fail three tests before he could be disciplined.

The NFL has said the union agreed to sign off on random, unannounced tests occurring during the season.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee met with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA chief DeMaurice Smith in October and urged both sides to come to a quick resolution on implementing the HGH tests.