In today's sports news I don't follow sports news to closely, but a story out of Australia today drew my attention.
The story (may require registration) starts like this:
The United States' top anti-drugs tsar addressed the heads of Australian sport in Sydney yesterday at a confidential meeting convened by the Australian Sports Drug Agency to examine overseas trends in the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
The chief executive of the US Anti-Doping Agency, Terry Madden, who initiated the BALCO inquiry into leading US athletes, such as Olympic gold medallist Marion Jones and baseballer Barry Bonds, refused to speak publicly.
Later in the story, some policies were discussed:
The issue of glucocortico-steroids is the most contentious, with professional sports arguing the use of these substances is more rehabilitative than performance-enhancing.
An NRL spokesman said: "The therapeutic exemption allowed by WADA for use of cortico-steroids and probenecid is not practical."
Asthma sprays, now back on the prohibited list, are also a problem, given many athletes are not aware they now require permission to use them.
Athletes will need permission to use cortico-steroids? Many athletes have asthma, and many asthmatics depend on such drugs to manage symptoms. The medicines are recognized as a generally safe and effective preventative. I don't think safety should be sacraficed to anti-drug hysteria.
9:55:58 AM | permalink |
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