Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Roger Clemens told a U.S. congressional committee today that he never used performance- enhancing drugs and said he took ``great issue'' with a Major League Baseball report accusing him of injecting steroids.

``I have never used steroids, human growth hormone, or any other type of illegal performance-enhancing drugs,'' Clemens, an All-Star pitcher, said in prepared testimony. ``I think these types of drugs should play no role in athletics at any level.''

Clemens also said his accuser, former trainer Brian McNamee, was trying to ``save his own skin by making up lies that have devastated me and my family.''

Clemens, who repeatedly has denied drug use since the Dec. 13 release of a report on steroids in Major League Baseball by former Senator George Mitchell, said he didn't believe performance-enhancing substances can help an athlete.

``In fact, I think they are detrimental,'' he said in testimony prepared for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. ``Should there be more extensive testing? Yes. I think whatever is necessary for everyone involved to satisfy themselves that it is not going on, should be done.''

He also said he knew he may face criminal prosecution if the committee sides with McNamee.

``I know that some people will still think I am lying, no matter what I say or do,'' Clemens said. ``And I know that because I didn't take steroids, it will look like an attack on Senator Mitchell's report. I am not saying Senator Mitchell's report is entirely wrong and I am not trying to convince those who have already made up their minds based on an allegation.''

McNamee's Statements

He denied McNamee's accusations, made to both Mitchell and federal investigators.

``I am saying Brian McNamee's statements about me are wrong,'' Clemens said.

McNamee, in his own testimony for the committee, said he had injected Clemens more than the 16 times he initially told investigators.

Another former client of McNamee and an ex-teammate and training partner of Clemens, pitcher Andy Pettitte, said in an affidavit to Congress that Roger Clemens admitted 10 years ago to using human growth hormone, the Associated Press reported.

Pettitte also said that Clemens backtracked when they talked about HGH again in 2005, the same year Congress held its first hearing on steroids in baseball, AP said. Clemens said then that Pettitte misunderstood the earlier conversation and that he actually had been talking about his wife using HGH, the AP reported.

The New York Daily News reported last week that Clemens's wife, Debbie, got an injection of HGH before posing in a bikini for 2003 Sports Illustrated magazine.

To contact the reporter on this story: Danielle Sessa in Washington at dsessa@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 13, 2008 10:05 EST