A federal appeals court has ruled that government investigators are entitled to keep the names and urine samples of about 100 Major League Baseball players who tested positive for illegal drug use in 2003.
A three-judge panel at the U.S Court of Appeals in San Francisco made the ruling Wednesday. The panal says a lower court ruling that forced investigators to return files taken from the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, BALCO, was wrong.
The ruling could spell bad news for San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds if his name is on the list. Bonds has been the target of a perjury investigation since he testified before a grand jury that he did not knowingly ingest illegal drugs.
Bonds' personal trainer Greg Anderson was previously convicted of steroids distribution. He is currently in prison for refusing to testify in the perjury probe.
The samples had been collected by the league as part of a survey to gauge the prevalence of steroid use. The results were supposed to be kept secret.
Some information for this report was provided by AP.