Heard on NPR yesterday a commentater equate having LASIK surgery to correct eyesight with using drugs to enhance physical performance. His argument was along the lines that both involve using a procedure or chemical to enhance a physical deficiency, so they should be viewed as the same. He was chiding a Senator who had had LASIK surgery for going after producers of steroids.

In my view, this argument is not a good one. The problem with equating LASIK and steroids is that one corrects a deficiency while the other enhances normal performance. People who get LASIK have a deficiency in their eyesight. Their vision is not normal. The LASIK surgery corrects their impairment.

People who take steroids generally are not correcting a deficiency, but rather are trying to gain an unnatural advantage. There might be some people who need to take steroids to correct a deficiency, but the current debate in the Senate is centering on performance enhancing uses.

LASIK good, steroids bad!