Noble: This is your one and only warning.
Your screen will soon be filled
with dramatized stories of scientific research
that some people may find controversial or disturbing.
Viewer discretion is advised.
Ask yourself, does progress always come at a price?
Are some experiments too risky or just wrong?
A little curiosity can't hurt anyone...
Can it?
Dark Matters: Twisted but True 2x12 Theremin; The Monster Study; Roid Rage Original Air Date on December 19, 2012
== sync, corrected by elderman ==
Wen-- wen-- wen--
Noble: You'll meet a man with a lifelong affliction.
He destroyed the lives of innocent children
in his search for a cure.
...a bit.
And I'll introduce ambitious athletes
prepared to destroy their bodies with science
in a desperate grab for Olympic gold.
Yeah!
But first I present the inventor of electronic music.
For a while, he was rich and famous in the United States,
a genius, a visionary.
Then he transformed his musical technology
into the ultimate tool of Soviet espionage.
I'd be more concerned about the Chinese in Vietnam
than Moscow.
Sir, I need you to end that phone call immediately.
I'm on the phone to the President.
Sir, we have an infestation.
Harry, I'm gonna have to call you back.
[ Receiver clicks ]
Testing one, two.
Noble: Radio transmissions of conversations
from the U.S. ambassador's office had been detected...
Testing one, two.
...a listening device
hiding in the heart of the American embassy.
When U.S. agents discovered this bug,
they had a heart attack
because, first of all, they had always assumed
that the Soviets were very primitive in technology,
and here was a device
even better than what the U.S. could create.
Second, they always assumed that bugs had batteries,
yet here was a device without a battery.
It was the perfect bug.
You sure it's a bug?
Yes, sir.
It's a bug, sir, definitely.
How?
Who could build an electronic bug with no electronics?
Noble: That man is Russian inventor Léon Theremin.
Before the Cold War, he found fame and wealth in America
with a musical instrument that sounds out of this world.
The Theremin is an amazing instrument,
but it's incredibly difficult to play
because it's the only one that you play
without actually physically touching it.
Instead, you move your hands in the electromagnetic fields
around these two antennas here.
So, this antenna controls the volume.
So the higher my hand is above this antenna, the louder it is.
[ Volume decreases ]
[ Volume increases ]
This antenna here --
the closer I move my hand, the higher the pitch.
[ Pitch increases ]
As I move my hand towards this,
I'm actually changing the capacitance here,
which affects the circuit and the oscillator
and, therefore, the pitch of the sound.
[ Pitch increases incrementally ]
[ Theremin playing ]
[ Playing stops ]
[ Applause ]
Ah. Ah.
Ladies and gentlemen,
the, uh, music of my etherophone.
Noble: People will come to know it as a Theremin,
one of the world's first electronic musical instruments.
RCA pays Theremin handsomely for manufacturing rights.
Other electronics companies pay
for access to Theremin's creative skills.
The Russian also makes a little extra money on the side...
as a spy.
While he was in the U.S.,
Theremin regularly passed secrets to the Soviets.
It wasn't the Cold War yet,
but the two countries were still rivals.
Theremin specialized in industrial espionage,
figuring out industrial secrets that the Soviets could use
and passing it on to his handlers back home.
[ Theremin playing ]
Noble: Theremin is smart, rich, famous, and a communist spy.
But he's also perhaps too much of a romantic
when he meets ballerina Lavinia Williams.
She is black.
Glinsky: Theremin fell in love with her
even though she was 20 years his junior,
and they got married.
And it was very tough on Theremin
because mixed-race marriages at that time
were still frowned upon.
Léon.
Hmm?
[ Chuckles ]
What's wrong, my dear?
Oh [Chuckles] life, perhaps.
Noble: Theremin finds himself snubbed by high society.
His concert career dries up,
and the IRS comes after him for 10 years of unpaid taxes.
I am thinking of a new kind of burglar alarm.
Perhaps this will solve the money problems.
In 1938, he cuts his losses
and flees to his native Russia alone.
His reception is not what he hoped.
Suspicious of his capitalist past,
the communists arrest him for treason.
He seems destined to hard labor in a Siberian gulag
until he meets an unlikely savior --
Lavrenty Beria, head of Stalin's secret police.
Lavrenty Beria was one of the most terrifying figures
in Soviet Russian history in the 20th century,
and he was responsible for the deaths
of tens of thousands of innocent people.
At the same time,
he did have an understanding of scientists and intellectuals
and saw their value to the Soviet government.
I have been told by one of our scientists
that he cannot build a listening device
that evades detection.
I see.
Uh...perhaps I could talk it through with him,
help in some way.
He doesn't work here anymore.
Perhaps by telephone, then?
I do not believe there is a telephone where he has gone.
This is not America, Léon Sergeyevich.
I need what he could not give me.
You realize the Americans --
they will detect any wiring, any batteries.
These are the essential parts of a listening device.
This is not simple.
So, it is impossible.
No. No. No.
Not impossible... just not simple.
Noble: An impossible invention
that can evade the vigilant Americans.
It is all that separates Theremin
from a return to the frozen wastes of Siberia.
Would you put that down, please?
He is inventing for his life.
Noble: It has been two months
since the defeat of Nazi Germany.
In public, Russia and America remain allies.
All clear.
The Soviet Boy Scout Association
gives U.S. ambassador Averell Harriman a gift --
a hand-carved wooden version of America's great seal.
[ Camera shutter clicks ]
From hundreds of yards away, Theremin activates
his undetectable electronic masterpiece
inside the great seal.
[ Static hissing ]
Man: Lyndon Johnson...
It's him.
Whatever happens, he cannot find out.
I'm trusting you with this.
Well, the device is satisfactory, comrade.
[ Speaks indistinctly ]
[ Chuckles ]
This is gonna be the best surprise birthday party ever.
Now you just have to find some way
of making him say something interesting.
A joke, comrade Theremin, a joke.
[ Chuckles ]
The great seal bug was activated by an effect we call resonance.
I can demonstrate this using sound waves and a wine glass.
When I turn up the speaker...
[ High-pitched squealing ]
...we send sound waves at the wine glass.
And I find the resonant frequency of the wine glass.
There's no connection to the wine glass
except for the sound waves emanating from our speaker.
Noble: Using microwaves,
Theremin delivers power to his bug with no wires.
Kaku: The great seal bug was a stroke of genius.
You see, when people talk in a room,
the sound vibrations would make a diaphragm vibrate
inside the device.
And you have a microwave generator in another building.
Shooting energy into the device, it would be altered
by the vibrations emanating from the bug.
So, the reflected beam
would carry the conversation along with it,
and that's how the Soviets could listen in on the conversation.
And then when you turn off the microwave generator,
the device becomes inert, passive,
and totally undetectable.
Noble: Five different U.S. ambassadors
inadvertently reveal the state secrets of Cold War America
to Theremin's device.
Maggie, get me the State Department.
John, this is Averell.
I've got some new information regarding Gorski.
No one knows for sure what this bug revealed,
but the period between 1945 and 1952 are the most important
with regards to the formation of the Cold War.
The United States was formulating
an entirely new strategy
called containment of the Soviet Union.
And the policy was tested in 1948,
when Stalin blockaded Berlin.
And President Truman -- we now know --
was even contemplating using atomic bombs against Russia
if the situation deteriorated.
So, it's possible that maybe Stalin even knew
what Truman was thinking at the height of the Cold War.
Noble: It is seven years before a stray transmission
from the ambassador's office is accidentally detected.
Sir, I need you to end that phone call immediately.
Harry, I'm gonna have to call you back.
Noble: The bug inside the great seal defies Western analysis.
Experts call it "the thing."
By the time a British scientist figures it out in the late '50s,
Beria has moved on to a new and more treacherous espionage --
on his own boss.
Comrade Theremin.
I want you to make me something.
Something new?
That's right.
A brand-new listening device for a brand-new target.
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin
is the country's most dangerous man.
[ Shouting indistinctly ]
To stay in power, he has already executed
over one million members of his own party.
Lavrenty Beria wants to listen to Stalin's secrets
and gain leverage in the communist power struggles.
But being caught would mean certain death.
Theremin can help Beria, and there will be no bug to find.
Man: Now!
Imagine bugging a room without a bug.
You see, in a room, when people talk,
the windowpanes actually vibrate slightly.
And by shooting infrared onto the window
and having it bounce back,
the reflected beam carries the vibration
of the conversation in the room.
This idea was decades ahead of its time.
[ Clicking ]
Noble: Theremin's bug without a bug is never discovered.
For the next 20 years,
Theremin works voluntarily in the prison lab,
the only place he can find the technical challenges he craves.
My name is w-w-Wendell Johnson.
Noble: A scientist with a childhood disability
is so desperate to find a cure
that he turns a group of vulnerable orphans
into guinea pigs.
..."fee-lan-thro" --
You're stuttering already.
Wen-- wen--
Noble: His experiment messes up their minds
and crushes their personalities.
Is it worth it?
"...tests!"
In 1939,
a group of orphans were gathered to test an experimental cure.
Trouble is they weren't sick...yet.
Lives were ruined.
The cure never came.
This misbegotten bit of scientific research
became known as "The monster Study."
Wendell Johnson, a speech pathologist
who himself suffers from a violent stutter.
Hello.
I'm...
W-w-wen-- Wen-- Wen-- Wen--
Noble: Johnson's been bullied throughout his life.
He's known to give as good as he gets.
Wendell...not again.
Well, you should s-s-see the other guy.
Britt: At the time, speech pathology was still struggling
to be recognized as a science.
So Johnson had to come up with his own techniques
for trying to deal with stuttering.
[ Electricity crackling ]
Noble: After years of effort,
he manages to gain some control of his own stammering.
P-p-p-pleased to meet you.
My name is w-w-w-Wendell Johnson.
Noble: He gets a job teaching speech pathology
at Iowa University.
In an effort to cure stuttering,
he digs into his own background to understand how it started.
Sam, t-take a look at this.
Now, I didn't s-stutter until I was s-six.
Young children often stutter just a little.
But my mom questioned it, p-pointed it out.
I p-panicked, which exacerbated the problem,
maybe even created it.
I think that's what happens with all s-s-s-stutterers.
Mary. Thanks for coming.
Johnson receives permission to test his theory
on children at a state orphanage.
This is gonna be f-fascinating.
He recruits post-graduate student Mary Tudor
to carry out the tests.
How do you get on with children?
Just great.
She's adorable.
Britt: To prove his theory
that stuttering could be induced in children,
Johnson brought together a group of non-stutterers.
Now, his plan was to treat them in the same way
that he believed stuttering was caused --
that is, by having adults tell them that they were stutterers.
Now, if he was right and the children became stutterers,
then he felt he would be well on his way
to having a cure for stuttering.
And your criticisms have to be reinforced by the staff.
Tell the teachers that these kids
really do have speech problems.
They must pick them up o-on any and every stumble.
Lie to the staff?
Exactly.
I was fluent until I was 6, Mary, totally fluent.
What happened?
I had a very critical teacher.
He complained to my p-p-parents.
It's taken 25 years of blood and sweat to t-talk like this.
And yet you want to inflict
the same thing on these children?
It's just temporary. [ Chuckles ]
Once we know how to cause it, we can cure it.
Do you see?
Crack this p-p-p-problem,
and we can save the next generation.
Don't you think we should seize that?
[ Exhales sharply ]
[ Chuckles ]
Wish me luck.
I've had my bath, miss.
You won't regret it.
I'm a good cleaner, and I learn quick.
Joan, I'm here to do speech therapy.
I hardly eat. They call me "the sparrow."
Please take me.
Joan, I'm not here to adopt you.
You just need to answer my questions.
Yes, miss. Sorry, miss.
This is Mary Tudor,
conducting an intelligence test on Joan.
Noble: That is not an intelligence test.
It's an experiment,
carefully designed to transform a normal, healthy child
into one with a crippling speech impediment.
Now, the staff have come to the conclusion
that you have the symptoms of a child
who is beginning to stutter.
Noble: Mary Tudor is attempting to induce a stutter in orphan Joan.
...aware of the problems with your speech.
So, when you feel yourself stutter,
you must try to stop yourself immediately.
Do anything to stop yourself from stuttering.
Yes, miss.
I didn't think I stuttered, miss.
Thank you.
I had a book once.
Start reading, please.
"Once upon a time, a fat and jolly "fee-lan-thro--"
You're stuttering already.
Every time you feel you're about to,
pause, take a deep breath,
really focus on not messing it up again.
She's following a script
devised by speech pathologist Wendell Johnson
to create and magnify stuttering.
These days, experiments involving human subjects,
but specifically children, are very tightly regulated,
both by institutional review boards
and by external ethics panels,
to make sure that the subjects and the children
are protected at all costs.
Back in those days,
scientists could do almost anything they wanted.
"...little dog in the picture is named..."
Noble: Tim, age 12, also a fluent speaker,
receives the same treatment.
"And they all went home after a happy family outing."
Quite a few hesitations.
Really?
Sorry, miss.
You know Bradley with the terrible stutter?
He started just like you, stopping and starting.
You really must try harder.
How'd it go?
[ Sighing ] I don't know.
Something doesn't feel right.
Playing with their minds?
You're just tired.
Have some coffee.
Now, I want to hear every last detail.
Well, they responded as expected.
They seemed anxious.
All of them denied they had a stutter at first.
The experiment continues for months.
How are you today, Joan?
A bit -- a bit --
You're repeating yourself.
Teachers stop me, make me say things over.
Good.
Focus on the times it goes wrong.
You really must improve.
The children become withdrawn.
They speak little, not because they can't,
but to avoid adult criticism.
Choosing not to speak is not a stutter.
Stuttering is physical problem
where your muscles lock when you're trying to say
exactly what you know you want to say.
It's something like a muscle spasm,
like Tourette's or asthma,
where suddenly your system malfunctions for a moment.
It's involuntary.
Good morning, Tim.
Take a seat.
How are you today?
Tim, why won't you talk to me?
Afraid.
What are you afraid of?
I might...stutter.
Noble: Stutterers like Wendell Johnson
do not choose how they speak.
It is out of their control.
Wen-- wen--
Noble: Children have chosen not to speak
simply for fear of failure.
They do not suffer
from the uncontrollable reflex of stuttering.
So, your friends laugh at you when you talk now?
Make me go...pink.
Why do you say "pink"?
Teacher says I can't say..."Rrr."
So, you say "pink" instead of what?
Red, miss. I can't say that word.
You have a bad stutter.
Ashamed.
No one want me now.
[ Button clicks ]
Cohen: Johnson's dealing with a very vulnerable population
that would not have benefited at all from these experiments.
In fact, this would have been quite damaging to them.
And he was just working on a hunch.
There was no scientific basis for his ideas.
I've completed my thesis, Professor.
Would you like to hear a summary?
Sure.
"Staff observations --
"grades down, total lack of confidence,
"snapping fingers, shuffling feet,
ceased conversing."
Shall I go on?
Good.
These are all classic symptoms that go along with stuttering.
But none of them actually stutter, Professor.
Not one.
Noble: Johnson believed children could be made to stutter,
but the test disproves his theory.
Schneider: Wendell Johnson believed
that parents caused young children to stutter.
We now know that is not true, but we do know that parents,
working in partnership with an experienced professional,
can actually help resolve stuttering in young children
through positive reinforcement of their normal speech behavior.
How much damage have we done to these kids?
In years to come, when no one has to suffer like I did,
you think people are g-gonna turn around
a-and say, "Oh, gee, how awful.
"They had to put a few kids
through a couple of months of...T-tests"?!
Noble: Because the monster study disproves Johnson's theory,
he never publishes it.
Instead, he goes on promoting his theory
that stuttering is a condition learned in childhood.
We still don't know exactly what causes stuttering.
We know that there may be a genetic component,
and recent studies have shown
that different parts of the brain
are utilized in non-stuttering versus stuttering behavior.
Whether these activities are related
to the cause of stuttering is not clear-cut at the moment,
and a lot of research needs to be done.
"...the family walked deep into the woods..."
Noble: Mary tries to repair the damage.
"...of white pebbles..."
But most orphans in the monster study
remain withdrawn and traumatized.
"After their parents abandoned them,
"the children wait for the moon to rise,
and then they follow the pebbles back home."
We know a lot more now than in the days of Wendell Johnson.
But we still do not have a simple, magical cure.
There is no magic pill.
A lot of research, looking at drugs to cure stuttering,
and so far none of it works.
Noble: Decades later, Mary receives a letter
from one of the children, who is now in her 70s.
She blames Mary and the experiment for ruining her life.
So, in one respect, at least, Wendell Johnson was correct...
[ Gasping ]
...mess up the child, and you permanently scar the adult.
When Soviet strongmen beat the U.S. of "A,"
the Americans don't take it lying down.
A doping doctor adds some chemical dynamite
to their workouts
and sets off a new kind of arms race.
Competition among elite athletes will never be the same.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Take a group of ultra-competitive sportsmen,
throw in a political grudge match between nations,
then mix in a little radical biochemistry
to give your side the edge.
It's athlete versus athlete and scientist versus scientist.
Is that cheating?
Hard to believe, but there was a time
when the best man really did win in sport.
10 years after World War II,
that innocent world came to an end.
[ Man grunting ]
Noble: In Vienna, Russian athletes clean up,
taking all the big prizes.
[ Applause ]
Dr. John Ziegler is an amateur weightlifter,
professional pharmacologist, and U.S. team doctor.
Well, John, we ain't doing too well, are we?
John Grimek is assistant to the coach
of the U.S. Olympic weightlifting team.
I know it.
So?
Well, you seriously think it's natural,
what they're doing?
Silbey: This was the 1950s, the height of the Cold War.
This was the era of Sputnik,
of nuclear weapons being built by both sides.
Sports was a really good place for that rivalry to come out
without actually starting a nuclear war.
The Soviets poured their resources into that
and nowhere more than in weightlifting,
where they were running away with the competition.
Well, they just claim to be natural commie supermen.
Noble: Dr. Ziegler thinks the Russians
have a not-so-natural secret.
John, we're better than the Reds.
And I'm gonna prove it.
Ziegler was a very competent and creative doctor.
He had worked in the pharmaceutical industry
for a long time,
so he was certainly involved with new drug discoveries,
new therapies, new technologies, things like that.
So, if the Russians were pursuing
their own drug-research program,
Ziegler was in a perfect place to come back
to the United States in his own lab
and pursue that same kind of research.
Noble: Ziegler manages to pry the Russian secret
out of their coach.
So, Dmitri, your guys -- they're strong, huh?
We will always win because we are Soviet.
I work with my lifters.
We work together.
We work with our scientists.
You do, huh?
Sure.
They give us Soviet medicine to make us iron men.
It's called...
Testosterone.
Ah.
[ Snorts ]
Testosterone.
Testosterone is a hormone produced by the male testes
and the female ovaries.
Men have 10 times as much testosterone as women do.
It has two major effects.
It's androgenic,
so it increases the secondary sexual characteristics --
deepening of the voice, increased chest hair,
increase in size of genitals.
It's also anabolic,
increasing muscle mass, increasing bone density.
As far as powerlifting is concerned,
it's the anabolic effects that you want.
Noble: Back in the states,
Dr. Ziegler tries testosterone on athletes,
but the results are not what he'd hoped.
You still sure that's what the Russkis are using?
Sure is.
Their prostates are so swollen,
they have to use catheters to pee.
Well, testosterone wasn't so good for Park
when you gave it to him.
Well, initially, the testosterone does seem
to have some, uh, unfortunate side effects.
[ Laughs ]
Side effects?
Well, more like, uh, front effects, so I heard.
[ Laughs ]
Miller: So, Ziegler's first subject
was a bodybuilder by the name of Jim Park,
who had won Mr. America back in the '50s.
He only gave him one small injection of testosterone,
which at the time really had no effect
on muscle mass or exercise performance.
It did cause a very impressive increase in Mr. Park's libido.
Noble: Park is lucky to only receive one injection.
Testosterone has long-term side effects
the Russians simply ignore.
Puthacheary: Having an increased amount of testosterone in your system
causes you to have very bad acne.
It can make your prostate grow bigger.
It can make you bald, and it can lead to mental problems.
Your body counteracts these high amounts of testosterone
by increasing the female hormones within your system.
So you can get gynecomastia,
which is increase in breasts in men,
and testicles can shrink.
Even later on, this can lead to high blood pressure
and high cholesterol levels.
Noble: In 1959, Dr. Ziegler brings the weightlifters
a new experimental drug that he hopes
will boost performance with fewer health risks.
I think I may have the answer.
Been working on a treatment for burn victims,
and I think it may be ideal.
Burn victims?
Uh-huh.
You think some itty-bitty pill
is all it's gonna take to beat the Russkis?
I've been using them myself.
It's called an anabolic steroid.
Anabolic steroids were a brand-new type of drug,
and what Ziegler mainly wanted to do was find a drug
that mimics the muscle-building effects of testosterone,
without the unpleasant sexual side effects,
the increased breast growth, things of that nature.
And in the past, he had worked with anabolic steroids
in burn victims to help build new tissue growth,
and he surmised that he could use the same types of drugs
with athletes and help build new muscle.
Noble: Ziegler tries out steroids
on the U.S. team at the 1960 Olympics.
But using a drug treatment
developed for burn victims on muscle builders
is more complex than Ziegler expects.
[ Indistinct shouting ]
Team USA wins just one gold.
[ Exhaling sharply ]
Noble: Russia dominates weightlifting.
[ Grunting ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
Yeah!
So, the Olympics didn't go so good.
Oh, you know so.
No, the Russkis walked away with five gold medals -- five.
We gave the boys the pills, and we still lost.
Look, I got to tell you -- the boys --
well, they don't place much stock in it anymore, Doc.
Look, I think maybe we've just been doing it wrong.
This is all experimental, John.
Science takes time.
Well, that's why I asked you
to come all the way down here.
Sorry I'm late, Doc. Them roads are awful.
Hi, Mr. Grimek.
Hey, Bill.
Noble: Ziegler's been working with Bill March
to develop an exercise-and-steroid regime
that can defeat the all-conquering Russians.
Look at the muscles on him.
What the hell you been doing with him, Doc?
Ziegler has finally cracked the riddle of muscle growth.
His discovery will change sports forever.
Noble: Dr. John Ziegler is testing
new training and drug regimes with weightlifter Bill March.
[ Exhales sharply ]
5 exercises, 12 seconds apiece.
Well, that's it? That's all you do?
Ain't as easy as it looks, Coach.
It's got to be the whole package.
You have to stick with it.
Everything we've done up to now has been too piecemeal.
And, of course, after the session,
an anabolic-steroid pill to help things along.
...three...
Noble: Bill March becomes the pinup boy of U.S. weightlifting.
Ziegler promotes the idea that his short-burst exercise regime,
called isometrics, is the secret to success.
Everyone wants to try it.
The role of steroids is not publicized.
One...Two...
Bill March wins four consecutive U.S. national championships.
In 1963, he wins the Pan-American games
and sets a new world record
in the standing press of 354 pounds.
Rumors circulate that isometrics
are not the true secret behind March's success.
It's the magic pills.
Steroids travel through the blood.
They go to the muscle.
They enter the muscle,
and they signal the nucleus of the muscle
to produce more muscle protein.
So the muscle gets bigger.
The muscle gets stronger.
They also decrease recovery time.
So, what used to take 48 hours between workouts
now only takes 24 hours.
Noble: As athletes get stronger,
the evil side effects of steroids
are becoming more evident, including violent mood swings,
liver damage, and erectile dysfunction.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Miller: There was an article called "Don't do it, fellows!"
That was published in Iron Man magazine.
And the article basically
spilled the beans on Ziegler's workouts,
saying that they also included anabolic-steroid use.
The article warned people not to do this,
that the drugs hadn't been checked out
for human muscle growth.
It warned of the sexual side effects.
And despite all that, people wanted to use them, anyway.
People wanted to get big at any cost,
and as a result of that, their use just exploded.
Noble: By the 1964 Olympics, weightlifting is as much
a pharmacology competition as an athletic one.
[ Groaning ]
Noble: Despite Ziegler's efforts,
it's a washout for team America.
The Soviet Union cleans up again.
Russian chemists have been busy
developing their own anabolic steroids.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Communist countries had large, state-funded doping programs,
so all their athletes were on steroids.
After World War II,
weightlifting records increased by about 1% between games.
But in the 1960s, that was up to 7% between games,
and that was largely due to the increased steroid use.
Noble: It's a new world order --
if you're not on steroids, you might as well stay home.
The hard-core lifters go crazy for the little pink pills.
Jack.
But the man who started the rush on steroids
is having second thoughts.
They're popping my pills like candy.
Those are powerful drugs.
You're taking way too much.
I'm a doctor. I know the safe dose.
They don't know when to stop.
They have no idea what it's doing to them.
In high doses,
previously unknown problems with steroids appear,
including high blood pressure, hair loss,
infertility, snoring, and increased aggression.
But many athletes don't care.
It's whatever it takes to win.
Will you listen to yourself, John?
Nothing is that important! Oh, get real, Jack!
You been taking them yourself.
You want that we keep getting licked by the commies?
Our boys just want to get the edge.
Get the edge?! They're ruining their bodies!
[ Scoffs ]
Shapiro: Elite athletes are different than normal people.
Surveys given to elite athletes asking them,
"if you would take this pill and it would help you win
but you'd die within five years, would you take it?" --
now, normal people, if they respond to that question,
they go, "mnh."
Less than 1% of them would agree to that.
But elite athletes -- half of them would do it.
Noble: Steroid abuse moves beyond weightlifting.
Hey, Doc, what are you watching?
Football --
San Diego Chargers.
I trained with their coach.
You mean the guy that gave them steroids
with their breakfast cereal?
That's him.
You know what some joker called it?
"The breakfast of champions."
In professional and amateur locker rooms,
athletes risk their health to gain that edge.
Steroid use began to get out of control in the 1960s.
Everyone was taking steroids.
If you weren't, you simply weren't in contention.
This was especially true for weightlifters.
Nearly 30% of all doping cases involved weightlifters.
Noble: No area of sport will ever be safe again
from the influence of anabolic steroids.
It infects everything.
Well, the genie sure is out of the bottle.
It ain't your fault, Doc.
Ain't it?
You sure?
== sync, corrected by elderman ==