I've looked on the internet and I've found lots of sites that talk about the side effects of steroids, they all sound like they know what they're talking about and they all claim to have studies backing up their claims and many of them contradict each other.
Here are a few things I have discovered, the few consistencies among most sites talking about steroid use and the side effects.
1."Most data on the long-term effects of anabolic steroids in humans come from case reports rather than formal epidemiological studies."
Now I don't know for sure but I would say that case studies aren't a reliable source of data when it comes to side effects of anything, shouldn't conclusions about side effects be based on empirical data obtained through study of actual effects. Perhaps I am misunderstanding case studies but it seems to me that they are easily refutable.
2.Every site that I have read talks specifically about abuse, not carefully monitored use. As though every person who uses steroids is taking them in massive quantities for extended periods of time. I read about one study that gave mice steroids.
"exposing male mice for one-fifth of their lifespan to steroid doses comparable to those taken by human athletes caused a high frequency of early deaths."
A fifth of their lives!!! Who's taking steroids for that long, one fifth of the average human life is like 15 years. I think the study may have been stretching it a little bit.
3. Testicular atrophy, otherwise known as ball shrinkage. Honestly unless this is affecting sexual performance is this such a big deal. Not only that but when one quits using steroids the testicles will revert back to normal over time.
4. Gynecomastia, otherwise known as "bitch tits", this is basically a build up of breast tissue in men and is considered a side effect of steroids due to the high levels of testosterone one is putting into their body and the human body's reaction is to increase the estrogen. Or so the sites I have read say.
5. If taken during adolescence steroids can cause bone growth to slow or stop
Those are really the only things that are consistent, various sites talk about roid rage, liver damage and heart damage(though in my opinion this could be caused by the incredible size some people attain and the heart simply has to work too hard, much like in an obese person). I have found no sites that actually allowed a person to view even the case studies. I continue to look.
None of this tells me why it's illegal, I understand that it is bad for teenagers so placing an age limit on purchases would of course be prudent. But should the government be telling us what to put in our bodies? Alcohol is considered one of the leading causes of death in the world, according to one article "One in 25 deaths across the globe can be directly attributed to alcohol consumption" http://www.canada.com/health/Alcohol+related+deaths+rise+globally/1735774/story.html
Meanwhile there are no verifiable statistics on the number of steroid related deaths in a a year. Oh you can find a ton of sites telling you which people of note have died that were on steroids, but nothing telling us the actual numbers.
Ok, I'm done for now, just gonna throw a few links on to show where I got some of my info. And I'll say this, I am for legalization of substances that don't need to be illegal. I am pro legalization of marijuana and steroids. I think that it's silly that cigarettes which have no purpose but to kill us are legal and alcohol which is related to massive numbers of deaths are legal, while steroids which can be prescribed by a doctor for someone with AIDS and have uses beyond just killing us are illegal. I am not on steroids, I don't really care to be, (though if it were legal, I might try it for a cycle if it were oral and not injected and see what happened) especially when it is currently against the law. If you want to do something like steroids fight to have the law changed, don't go doing them while they are still illegal.
I guess that's all I have here are the links, check these sites out for yourself and if you care enough do a little more research, you might just find as many dead ends as I did. It seems like most of the information on this subject is opinions and very little real data.
I just have to emphasize my belief in following the law until it is changed, don't buy, sell or use steroids until they are legal or without a prescription from your physician.
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