WASHINGTON - US President George W. Bush, a former Major League Baseball team owner, condemns the use of steroids, the White House said Friday after an investigation that accused some 80 players of doping.
"The president believes that it's important that Major League Baseball is taking on this issue," spokesman Scott Stanzel told reporters after the release of a report by former US senator George Mitchell.
"The use and abuse of steroids sends the wrong message to our children, that cutting corners to achieve success is the right way to do it," said Stanzel, who declined to say whether Bush had read the results of Mitchell's probe.
The Mitchell Report named top stars Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens among dozens of current and former players who have used steroids, exposing more than a decade of drug use in the sport known as America's pastime.
In January 2004, Bush had used his annual State of the Union speech to the US Congress to warn that some professional athletes were "not setting much of an example" for children by doping.
"The use of performance-enhancing drugs like steroids in baseball, football, and other sports is dangerous, and it sends the wrong message -- that there are shortcuts to accomplishment, and that performance is more important than character," he said.
Bush also urged "team owners, union representatives, coaches, and players to take the lead, to send the right signal, to get tough, and to get rid of steroids now."
ok/mac
12/14/2007 15:15 GMT