Comments on: Doping – rationalising the banned substance list http://www.weareforensic.co.uk/doping-rationalising-the-banned-substance-list/ A body of evidence... Thu, 08 Aug 2013 08:22:40 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Dr Tom Bassindale http://www.weareforensic.co.uk/doping-rationalising-the-banned-substance-list/#comment-2303 Thu, 08 Aug 2013 08:22:40 +0000 http://www.weareforensic.co.uk/?p=1668#comment-2303 In reply to James Hartwright.

Thanks James,
I think we are at a point where athletes believe they have to take supplements and pills to perform at their best – this is leading to a grey area of untested supplement products. Also, an athlete mentality is generally to take 2 pills if 1 is normal as 2 must be better right?

The haematocrit 50 % being seen as a target is a good example though of what could happen. I am not so sure this isn’t the case now with the biopassport anyway – people have learnt to stay within certain parameters and still dope. The next question is to whether that is effective doping if you are not altering those blood values significantly?

The closest to a licensing system is the ‘informed sport’ system – have your supplement batch tested for contaminants. As an athlete you would be a fool not to use this system if you feel supplements are necessary. WADA won’t get involved in that kind of thing I suspect.
Thanks for your thoughts.

]]> By: James Hartwright http://www.weareforensic.co.uk/doping-rationalising-the-banned-substance-list/#comment-2099 Wed, 24 Jul 2013 10:25:01 +0000 http://www.weareforensic.co.uk/?p=1668#comment-2099 Might this lead to athletes feeling that they “need” to take some or many of the previously banned drugs in order to compete? Athletes often tend to be sucked in by the latest snake-oil and some of these substances may have more impact on their health than say Bioflow wrist bands even if their impact is less than those in your magic 60 list. This could be similar to the haematocrit level of 50 being taken as a target by cyclists in the 90s,

On the other hand having world class athletes expected to be responsible for all potential contaminants however obscure they are seems unsustainable and potentially unfair on them. There are no easy answers. Would it be possible to have a licensing system for supplements and would/could this be arranged by WADA? I can’t see it being cheap.

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