NEW YORK - The NFL and its players discuss changes in the drug policy every May. There could be a major proposal for them to talk about this year.

The NFL wants to upgrade its steroid testing program and get it back to the level set by the IOC, which recently upgraded its testing after new equipment became available.

Also, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league seeks to add another testing lab and would like to test for human growth hormone when that is feasible.

"We have always adhered to the standard set by the International Olympic Committee," Aiello said. "Since the IOC has made its standards tougher, this was done to stay in line with it."

Under the old standard, a ratio above 6-1 of testosterone to epitestosterone, another natural hormone, was deemed to be a failed test. The new ratio adopted by the World Anti-Doping Agency is 4-1, one that the NFL proposes to implement. The most likely natural ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone in humans is 1:1.

Any change in the NFL's policy would require approval by the NFL Players Association. No date for a meeting with the players has been set, and Gene Upshaw, the union's executive director, did not return phone calls from The Associated Press Wednesday. Upshaw, a staunch advocate of more stringent steroid testing, is vacationing in Hawaii.

Pro football clamped down on steroids more than a decade ago. For the last 15 years, the NFL has had one of the toughest steroid-testing programs in sports, with random testing, and with suspensions for a first-time failure. During that period, there have been 44 suspensions.

Major league baseball has come under Congressional scrutiny for its steroid policies. And a recent CBS News report said three Carolina Panthers players had steroid prescriptions filled by a South Carolina doctor now under investigation by federal authorities.

That doctor, Dr. James Shortt, an alternative practitioner, said in Wednesday's editions of The Charlotte Observer that he prescribes steroids only in low doses and monitors patients to ensure their steroid levels are within "their upper limit of normal."

"People come to me often because they're worn down, they're exhausted, or something has happened to them and they haven't recovered fully," Shortt said.

"60 Minutes Wednesday" reported that Panthers punter Todd Sauerbrun and center Jeff Mitchell and former offensive lineman Todd Steussie filled testosterone cream prescriptions written by Shortt during the 2003 season, when the team went to the Super Bowl.

In addition to the cream, which is banned by the NFL, Sauerbrun also obtained syringes and the injectable steroid Stanozolol, which is banned by the league.

The Panthers have said they are cooperating with law enforcement and the NFL in their investigation of Shortt's connection to the team.

Last week, New Orleans Saints coach Jim Haslett acknowledged using steroids as a player in the early 1980s, a time when steroid use was rampant in the league. He told two newspapers that many Pittsburgh Steelers used steroids in the late '70s, then apologized for those remarks.