Most performance enhancing drugs become illegal or are put on hold at some point in their short public existence. HGH is derived from somatropin HGH is a man-made hormone that does not occur naturally. It is not a steroid but does have comparable positive and negative effects on the body’s systems. Now known as the Human Growth Hormone, it was originally abused by body builders and athletes, especially since it was hard to detect in blood work performed on competitors. Once the medical community had a decade to determine the efficacy of HGH, it was determined that its benefits were inconsequential for most takers.

HGH injections are illegal because it does more harm than good no matter who is administering it. As it happens, all forms of this growth hormone have either been withdrawn from medical practice as useless or put on hold by the Federal Drug Administration. As recently as the 1990’s, new variations have been engineered and subsequently withdrawn. Indeed the recombinant DNA exploration has not yielded as much success as hoped for by the pharmaceutical industry. Interferon and other anti-viral have been great results while many more attempts at such cloning techniques using human hormones in general have been fruitless.

HGH is available through a doctor for specific treatments but it is illegal to use it for anti-aging dreams, athletic performance or as a fountain of youth concoction. By 1991 Congress included HGH in the controlled substance category making the felony punishable with a potential 5 year sentence. It is illegal because it does not have any positive benefits even when used correctly. The most HGH has accomplished remotely resembling steroids is helping the athlete create leaner body mass, and like steroids this can only be achieved in conjunction with a brutal exercise regimen. It was thought that an increase in calcium by the injection of HGH created better bones in older men but that study finalized acknowledging no significant benefits. Sadly, abuse of HGH can cause deformed skeletal structures in the face, hands and feet due to the distribution of excess calcium in the system. To this day, use of HGH or anabolic steroids is frowned upon in not only the medical community but also in the sports world. The negative impact of the therapy short and long term outweighs any perceived enhancements. Even more unfortunate, the appropriate medical uses of HGH and other similar compounds also arrive with significant downsides, helping yet harming the patient little by little.