WADA Removes Finasteride, Considers Adding Viagra
WADA took the hair-loss drug finasteride off the WADA Banned Substances List on Tuesday. Finasteride was found to be a masking drug, used to prevent drug tests detecting certain steroids, but tests now can accurately detect those drugs.
Finasteride was added to the List in 2005 but WADA said the drug will be taken off the list on Jan. 1.
WADA added in a statement that finasteride has “been rendered ineffective as masking agents of steroids."
Brazilian soccer great Romario was found to have used finasteride in 2007, but was later exonerated.
Following a study by a Marywood University scientist that was funded by WADA, the agency said it would also consider adding the erectile-dysfunction drug Viagra to the List.
"There have been studies that indicate that Viagra allows you to exercise at sea-level capacity at higher elevations," said Kenneth Rundell, the lead investigator in the study.
WADA will meet to review the findings this spring, and will vote to add the drug to the 2010 Banned Substances List at its 2009 annual meeting.
Known steroids supplier Victor Conte recently said that Viagra provides benefits to athletes.
"Oxygen is transported into the heart to be pumped out to rest of the body," Conte sad. "Viagra vasodilates the lungs and pulmonary arteries. This is where the exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen occurs. So more red blood cells carrying oxygen get into the heart and more carbon dioxide is pumped out."
UCI, French Anti-Doping Agency Spar
International Cycling Union (UCI) President Pat McQuaid fired back at the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) on Wednesday after the Union was accused of not adequately fighting doping in the sport.
French Anti-doping Agency President Pierre Bordry said last week that the UCI was “going back in time” by not using targeted testing methods to catch drug cheats.
McQuaid disagreed, saying UCI was in fact targeting its tests.
"Where we have information which indicates a rider could be doping we will target him."
"We've targeted riders for extra blood tests to ensure they have a strong profile for experts to review. For example, targeting led to Emanuele Sella's positive test for CERA earlier this year."
Bordy provoked the ire of the UCI last week when he said he didn’t want the federation handling doping cases during the 2009 Tour de France. Bordry insisted AFLD be responsible for carrying out the testing for the Tour.
Doped Olympic Horse Banned
Lantinus 3, the horse ridden by Irishman Denis Lynch at the Beijing Games was banned for three months after it failed a drug test.
The International Equestrian Federation announced that Lynch was must pay $2,000 in fines plus an additional $2,000 in legal fees. His suspension was backdated to Aug. 21.
Five horses from the Beijing Olympics failed drug tests.
Media Watch
Los Angeles Times columnist Philip Hersh said he doesn’t thinkMarion Jones was telling the truth on her Oprah appearance
A profile in the Daily Advertiser discusses how diuretic drugs work in doping.
The Associated Press says a slew of positive drug tests in American football for bumetanide sent anti-doping experts scrambling for information because it hasn’t been used in so long.
In Australia’s the Age, news came out that a survey of Australian athletes found athletes think doping is widespread among their peers.
Written by Ed Hula III.
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