What performance enhancing drugs have been or are banned in the Olympics?
General Reference (not clearly pro or con)
[Editor's Note:The
International Olympic Committee and the US Olympic Committee are among 547
sports organizations worldwide (as of Jan. 2010) that have adopted the World
Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) "Code"
banning the performance enhancing substances and
methodslisted in the 2010 Prohibited List (90 KB).
Drugs are added and removed
from this list by WADA annually.]
David R. Mottram, PhD, Professor of Pharmacy at Liverpool John Moores University, and Michele Verroken, MA, Founding Director of Sporting Integrity consultancy, in the chapter "Doping Control in Sport" of the 2005 book Doping in Sports, wrote:
"The IOC [International Olympic Committee] instituted its first compulsory doping controls at the Winter Olympic Games in Grenoble, France in 1968 and again at the Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City in the same year. At that time the list of banned substances issued in 1967 included narcotic analgesics and stimulants, which comprised sympathomimetic amines, psychomotor stimulants and miscellaneous central nervous system stimulants. Although it was suspected that androgenic anabolic steroids were being used at this time, testing methods were insufficiently developed to warrant the inclusion of anabolic steroids in the list of banned substances...
The IOC...added anabolic steroids to the list of banned substances in 1975...
Blood doping was added to the IOC list of banned substances and methods after the 1984 Olympic Games, contrary to their policy of not banning anything for which an unequivocal testing procedure was not available...
The IOC introduced the new doping class of 'Peptide Hormones and Analogues' in 1989, despite the non-existence of unequivocal tests for these agents. Currently, this class includes human growth hormone (hGH), human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) and adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), including all releasing factors for these hormones. The list also includes erythropoietin (EPO)...
In March 1993, the IOC removed codeine from the list and permitted its use for therapeutic purposes. In September 1994, the IOC allowed two further narcotic analgesics, dihydrocodeine and dextromethorphan, for therapeutic use...
In January 2004 a number of OTC medicines (bupropion, caffeine, phenylephrine, phenylpropanolamine, pipradol, pseudoephedrine, synephrine) were removed from the prohibited list. However, they were placed on a monitoring programme in order to continue to detect patterns of their misuse in sport...
Two of the main groups of anti-asthma drugs are corticosteroids and ß2 -adrenoceptor agonists. Both groups of drugs are subject to WADA [World Anti-Doping Agency] doping control regulations. Indeed, the ß2 -adrenoceptor agonists are classed as both stimulants and as anabolic agents...The WADA regulations compound the problem for the athlete in that, in the case of the ß2 -adrenoceptor agonists, they are permitted subject to Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) approval, whilst certain drugs in this case (salbutamol, terbutaline, formoterol and salmeterol) are permitted for use by inhalation subject to an Abbreviated TUE...
In January 2001, the IOC, as part of its annual review of banned substances, changed the list of permitted ß2 -agonists by including formoterol as a permitted drug and by banning the previously permitted terbutaline. This led to confusion, as the change was introduced with little prior notice. Soon after, the IOC re-introduced terbutaline as a permitted drug."
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), stated the following in a Dec. 2009 article titled "Questions & Answers on 2010 Prohibited List," posted on its website, wada-ama.org:
"In the 2010 List [of Prohibited Substances and Methods], therapeutic use of inhaled salbutamol [an asthma medication] will not be prohibited and will therefore no longer require a TUE [therapeutic use exemption]... Salbutamol will still be prohibited for urinary concentrations above 1,000 nanograms per millilitre...
Pseudoephedrine will be reintroduced to the List. Until 2003, pseudoephedrine was prohibited in sport. It has been included in WADA’s Monitoring Program annually from 2004 on. (The Monitoring Program includes substances that are not prohibited in sport but are monitored by anti-doping laboratories in order to detect patterns of misuse.)...
Based on the results of the Monitoring Program, as well as scientific literature and results of controlled excretion studies conducted by WADA, pseudoephedrine will be prohibited above 150 micrograms per millilitre.
The 2010 List clarifies that supplemental oxygen (hyperoxia) is not prohibited."
The US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), in its website's "FAQ" page section on testing (accessed Nov. 5, 2008), stated:
"The WADA [World Anti-Doping Agency] Prohibited List identifies those prohibited substances and methods that are prohibited at all times (both in-competition and out-of-competition)...Generally, the substances and methods in the following categories - anabolic agents, hormones and related substances, beta-2 agonists, agents with anti-estrogenic activity, diuretics and other masking agents, enhancement of oxygen transfer, chemical and physical manipulation, and gene doping - are tested OOC [out-of-competition]. Over-the-counter dietary supplements may contain substances in these prohibited categories...
Generally, the IC [in-competition] testing menu includes all of the categories included in the OOC program plus stimulants, narcotics, marijuana, glucocorticosteroids and classes of prohibited substances in certain circumstances (i.e., alcohol and beta-blockers)."
The Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), in its "Equine Prohibited List" updated Nov. 17, 2006, applicable to the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, Beijing 2008, listed the following as prohibited substances:
"Agents, cocktails or mixtures of substances that may affect the performance of a horse; masking agents; substances with no generally accepted medical use in competition horses; substances which are usually products prescribed for use in humans or other species; agents used to hypersensitise or desensitise the limbs or body parts...
Agents which could influence performance by relieving pain, sedating, stimulating or producing/modifying other physiological or behavioural effects...
Substances that either have limited performance enhancing potential or to which horses may have been accidentally exposed, including certain dietary contaminants."
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) listed the following substances and methods as banned in its "2010 Prohibited List International Standard," released Jan. 1, 2010:
"S1. ANABOLIC AGENTS Anabolic agents are prohibited.
1. Anabolic Androgenic Steroids (AAS)
a. Exogenous AAS...
b. Endogenous AAS...
2. Other Anabolic Agents, including but not limited to:
S3. BETA-2 AGONISTS All beta-2 agonists (including both optical isomers where relevant) are prohibited except salbutamol (maximum 1600 micrograms over 24 hours) and salmeterol by inhalation...
S4. HORMONE ANTAGONISTS AND MODULATORS...
S5. DIURETICS AND OTHER MASKING AGENTS...
M1. ENHANCEMENT OF OXYGEN TRANSFER The following are prohibited:
1. Blood doping, including the use of autologous, homologous or heterologous blood or red blood cell products of any origin.
2. Artificially enhancing the uptake, transport or delivery of oxygen, including but not limited to perfluorochemicals, efaproxiral (RSR13) and modified haemoglobin products (e.g. haemoglobin-based blood substitutes, microencapsulated haemoglobin products)...
M3. GENE DOPING The following, with the potential to enhance athletic performance, are prohibited:
1. The transfer of cells or genetic elements (e.g. DNA, RNA);
2. The use of pharmacological or biological agents that alter gene expression...
S6. STIMULANTS All stimulants (including both optical isomers where relevant) are prohibited, except imidazole derivatives for topical use and those stimulants included in the 2010 Monitoring Program...
S7. NARCOTICS The following narcotics are prohibited:
Buprenorphine, dextromoramide, diamorphine (heroin), fentanyl and its derivatives, hydromorphone, methadone, morphine, oxycodone, oxymorphone, pentazocine, pethidine.
S8. CANNABINOIDS Natural or synthetic delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and THC-like cannabinoids (e.g. hashish, marijuana, HU-210) are prohibited..."
