Media inquiries: Veronique Rodman
202.862.4871 (vrodman@aei.org)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 17, 2008

The Mitchell report proves that steroids use is rampant in baseball. Should we care?

Leon Kass, M.D., former chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics, says "yes." In a thoughtful essay for The New Republic, Kass and coauthor Eric Cohen argue that sports are of intrinsic value to American society because they demonstrate what human excellence is and they teach children how to attain it.

Kass and Cohen argue that athletic steroid use sends the wrong message: showing that excellence is not a matter of dedication to the sport and to making the best of what one is, but rather consisting in changing the very nature of who one is. The authors conclude that a society that values record-smashing performances without regard to how they are achieved risks losing touch with the very things that make us human.

Dr. Kass can be reached at LKass@aei.org or through his assistant Yael Levin at YLevin@aei.org - 202-862-5941.

For all other media inquiries, please contact Veronique Rodman at vrodman@aei.org - 202-862-4871.

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