Letter from the board Making A Positive Difference

Educating and safeguarding against
the abuse of anabolic steroids

Congress calls out WWE over drug tests

Legislators want copies of its drug-testing policy and positive test results

BY MICHAEL O'KEEFFE
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Saturday, July 28th 2007

The leaders of the congressional panel that grilled Mark McGwire about steroid use have asked World Wrestling Entertainment for a copy of its drug-testing policy and information about wrestlers who have tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and ranking minority member Tom Davis (R-Va.) requested the documents in a letter sent yesterday to WWE chairman Vince McMahon. Waxman may schedule a hearing on steroids in wrestling after reviewing the documents.

"The tragic deaths of World Wrestling Entertainment star Chris Benoit and his family have raised questions about reports of widespread use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs by professional wrestlers," Waxman and Davis wrote. "These allegations - which include first-hand reports of steroid use by prominent former wrestlers - have swirled around the WWE for over a decade. Investigations by journalists have described a culture of performance-enhancing drug use in professional wrestling, high fatality rates among young wrestlers and an inability or unwillingness of WWE to address these problems."

The information requested by Waxman and Davis includes the results of WWE investigations into deaths, injuries or illnesses of wrestlers that may have been related to performance-enhancing drugs. Waxman and Davis also asked for all communications between the WWE and law-enforcement officials regarding allegations of drug use by wrestlers.

Additionally, the letter asks for the list of drugs covered by the WWE's policy, the entities responsible for testing and the administration of the program, the number of wrestlers tested each year and the number of positive results.

"The media has provided us with a copy of a letter from the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform," WWE spokeswoman Jennifer McIntosh said in a statement. "We are reviewing this letter and will respond accordingly."

On July 8, Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) called on Congress to investigate the WWE and professional wrestling.

Stearns made his call for congressional intervention two weeks after Benoit allegedly strangled his wife and suffocated his 7-year-old son before hanging himself with a weight-machine pulley in his suburban Atlanta home.

As the Daily News reported, Benoit also abused the drug gamma-hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, also known as the "date-rape drug." Experts say GHB can lead to violent mood swings, especially when users are withdrawing from the drug.