"The response by baseball was slow to develop and was initially ineffective, but it gained momentum after the adoption of a mandatory random drug-testing program in 2002."

That culture of drug use included a virtual Hall of Fame of some of the sport's biggest names of recent years: Clemens, Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, Eric Gagne, Miguel Tejada, David Justice, Chuck Knoblauch and Andy Pettitte.

So pervasive was the use of the substances -- which build muscles and endurance quicker than otherwise possible -- Mitchell said, that "hundreds of thousands of children" were also using steroids to get ahead in America's favorite pastime.

UK food body urges voluntary code on trans fats

Last Updated: 2007-12-13 13:48:19 -0400 (Reuters Health)

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Britain should not ban artery-clogging trans fats as voluntary measures are working, a food safety body said on Thursday.

Britain's Food Standards Agency (FSA) has looked at the use of trans fats, a type of unsaturated fat common in spreads, packaged foods and fast foods, and their contribution to increased cholesterol and the risk of coronary heart disease.

"The agency's board is to recommend to UK health ministers that voluntary measures to reduce trans fats in food have resulted in such low consumer intakes that mandatory restrictions are not necessary," the FSA said in a statement.

Heath Secretary Alan Johnson asked the FSA in October to review trans fats in light of action taken in Denmark and New York City to impose mandatory restrictions on these types of fats.

"A review of the evidence (by the FSA) showed that voluntary action by the UK food industry has already delivered consumer benefits equivalent to the most restrictive legislation," the FSA said in a statement.

"Average dietary intakes in the UK have come down to just 1 percent of food energy," it added.

The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition recommends that the average trans fat intake should not exceed 2 percent of food energy.

Britain is tackling an obesity crisis as a long-term central plank of government policy.

In 2005, a Health Survey for England report showed 21.2 percent of men and 21.5 percent of women were classified as obese, at a cost to the National Health Service of about one billion pounds a year and an additional 2.6 billion pounds to the economy

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