The Only Cure for Steroids

I have been despondent about the ability of steroids testing to ever keep up with the cheaters. I believed that the cheaters would always have more resources than, and therefore be multiple steps ahead of, the testing agencies. I still think this is the case. But I recently came across a testing policy that would actually combat this and could be a real deterrent for steroids use. Here is the most important part of the proposal, via Freakonomics:

An independent laboratory stores urine and blood samples for all players, and tests these blood samples 10 years, 20 years, and 30 years later using the most up-to-date technology available.

He has other suggestions, but this is the best one. Cheaters know they can beat the system now, but they also must know testing will eventually catch up to their methods years from now. The next step would be to incorporate clauses in contracts that impose penalties years later if positive results come back years later.

This is the only method that would actually be effective. And the fact that we don't see it, and won't ever see it, shows me that baseball is not actually committed to ending steroid use. The unions would never allow it, and Major League Baseball will never push hard for it. What a shame.