Baseball toughens its drug-testing program

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig (L) and Executive Director of the Major League Baseball Players Association Donald Fehr prepare to deliver testimony at a House Oversight and Government Reform committee hearing on the Mitchell Report into the use of steroids in baseball, on Capitol Hill in Washington January 15, 2008. Major League Baseball strengthened its drug-testing program on Friday in response to the Mitchell Report on the use of drugs in the sport.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Major League Baseball strengthened its drug-testing program on Friday in response to the Mitchell Report on the use of drugs in the sport.

Commissioner Bud Selig said 600 additional drugs tests would be performed each year and the number of off-season tests would double on average.

Selig also said players named in the report would receive amnesty from any punishment and would take part in community service activities aimed at educating children on the dangers of performance-enhancing substances.

"It is time for the game to move forward," Selig said in a statement. "There is little to be gained at this point in debating dated misconduct and enduring numerous disciplinary proceedings.

"Educating children and their parents about the dangers of performance-enhancing substances is a much more productive endeavor."

The report by former U.S. senator George Mitchell, released late last year, implicated nearly 100 current and former players as using illegal performance-enhancing drugs.

Congressmen Henry Waxman and Tom Davis, leaders of a House of Representatives committee that has held hearings on drugs in baseball, said in a joint statement they were "pleased that MLB has taken steps to strengthen its drug-testing policy."

(Writing by Steve Ginsburg in Washington; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)