Major League Baseball officials announced they want to introduce a blood test starting next season to screen players for Human Growth Hormone (HGH).

Gary Green, MLB consultant and doctor at the University of California at Los Angeles, reported to USA Today that MLB commissioner Bud Selig fully supports the idea of an HGH test.

"We're cautiously optimistic," Green said. "Talking to the commissioner, if the test becomes widely available, he certainly would be in favor of getting that implemented."

The efforts of introducing such a test are linked with the high-profile major leaguers Gary Sheffield and Rick Ankiel, who allegedly bought HGH from an on-line pharmacy and used the hormones prolonging the league’s head-ache stirred by suspicions around Barry Bonds’ record.

The blood test, developed under the oversight of the World Anti-Doping Agency, was limitedly used at the 2004 Athens Olympics and 2006 Turin Winter Olympics, according to Olivier Rabin, director of science of the World Anti-Doping Agency, who greeted the good news and underlined that he strongly believes that human growth hormone is abused in sports

If the HGH test kits are developed by December, Green said, it could take several months for MLB to ensure their accuracy.
The National Football League said it is not aware of the test. Union chief Gene Upshaw firmly opposed such a measure: "There's no way I'm having my guys punched for a blood test every time they walk into a locker room."

Baseball suffered the hardest blow from doping allegations, with links to the BALCO steroid scandal haunting Barry Bonds' rally to the ML career home run record.

US lawmakers have urged the commissioners of American sports to develop WADA-style tests upon their leagues if they do not pass stringent measures to safeguard the jeopardized integrity and credibility of the leagues. HGH was not banned in baseball until 2005 and is legal with a prescription.