Athletes' drug use must stop

by Anne-Marie Garci

Summer is traditionally the high season for sports, filled with triumphs 
and records, joy and celebration, goals and dreams. In 1998, however, the 
high spirits of the season were dampened, perhaps more than ever, by the 
problem of drug use.

For the first time ever, for example, the law was forced to intervene in 
the Tour de France cycling race, with the winning team's coaches and 
Italian racer Mapei taken into custody.

French Minister of Sport, Marie-Gourges Buffet, a Communist Party member, 
is heading up the battle against illegal drug use in France, as she told 
L'Equipe magazine last year. "On November 18 I'm going to present a 
bill in the National Assembly against illegal drug use."

And in Italy, where there is still speculation about the results of drug 
tests at last year's soccer World Cup and the Brazilian's performance in 
the final game, a new doping scandal erupted.

Torino Judge Raffaelle Guariniello revealed how results were manipulated at 
the Acquatosa testing laboratory in Rome, the world's largest. The lab has 
been shut down and the President of the Italian Olympic Committee, Mario 
Pescante, has resigned from his post. His conduct while President is now 
being investigated.

Dr Jean-Paul Escande, co-president of a group of doctors organised by the 
French Sports Minister to help in the fight against illegal drug use, has 
made some chilling declarations.

"Some of the things being done now are frightening", he warned. "If this 
isn't stopped, within two or three years we'll be seeing dozens of deaths 
[of athletes] between the ages of 35 and 40."

Drug agency

At the last general assembly of the Pan American Sports Organisation 
(PASO), the use of illegal substances was one of the issues on the agenda, 
and the decision was made to create an agency to deal with this scourge.

Cuba supported the decision and the President of the Cuban Olympic 
Committee, Jose Ramon Fernandez, has called on the international sports 
community to adopt strong measures aimed at eliminating drug use once and 
for all.

In a statement the Cuban Minister advocated "an in-depth investigation of 
the problem".

Among the causes leading to illegal drug use in sports, he cited "a lack of 
education and ethics" as well as "marketing, ambition, glory and money".

He added that the blame for the problem is shared by "the Olympic leaders 
who allow it to happen, the businesses and advertising agencies who spur 
athletes on by offering millions for product endorsements, and the doctors 
who essentially tolerate the problem by not monitoring and controlling it 
properly".

Many countries have proposed legislation against illegal drug use in 
sports, such as France and Italy. At the same time sports organisations are 
studying the adoption of stricter measures.

Nevertheless, the Sports Ministers of Australia and France expressed shock 
over statements made by International Olympic Committee President, Juan 
Antonio Samaranch, who declared: "If there is medical monitoring and the 
products used artificially enhance performance but do not endanger the 
athlete's health, then they might not be considered as doping."

Voet's confession

As Dr Escande told L'Equipe, "Doctors are capable of seeing 
everything. They are aware of the changes in athletes who start using 
illegal substances. The problem is that sometimes the suspicions aren't 
backed up by test results."

Belgian Willy Voet, the massage therapist for Festina, the team 
disqualified from the Tour de France, spent 16 days in prison for his 
complicity in the team's organised use of illegal drugs.

"When the doctor in charge of doing the blood tests arrived at 6.30", Voet 
explained, "the racers knew they had until 8.15 before they had to be 
tested. They would inject a litre of water into their bloodstream, with 
0.09 per cent sodium solution and 20 minutes later their hematocrit 
percentage would drop."

The hematocrit level is the percentage of red blood cells in a given volume 
of blood. The average is around 43 per cent, but it is generally lower in 
the case of athletes because they consume a great deal of oxygen. When a 
test result is higher than 43 per cent doping is suspected.

The cyclists were taking erythropoietin or EPO, a synthetic hormone that 
stimulates the production of red blood cells. This aids the oxygenation of 
the thigh muscles, enhances performance and promotes quicker recovery.

When taken by a healthy individual EPO can lead to blood clots, 
hemorrhaging, kidney damage and other problems. Incredibly enough no one 
tested positive for EPO in the Tour de France, despite the fact that the 
Festina team members confessed to using it. According to Dr Escande, "There 
are many ways of testing for EPO use, but they have chosen the one that 
gives the poorest results."

Synthetic drugs

The IOC has established a list of prohibited substances, but there are 
doubts regarding some others. Such is the case with synthetic creatine. 
Creatine is an amino acid produced in minute amounts in the liver, kidneys 
and pancreas. Synthetic creatine contributes to muscle development, but the 
effects of long-term use are still unknown.

Creatine is the focus of a doping scandal in Italian soccer. Some players 
have admitted to using it, as has one of the stars of the World Cup winning 
French team.

French Sports Minister Buffet states that athletes "are victims of a 
system", although she prefers to refer to them as "instruments" so as not 
to absolve them of all responsibility.

The director of Cuba's Sports Medicine Institute, Mario Granda, has called 
for the establishment of "generalised criteria applied equally to all 
athletes".

The problem is that every country has its own attitudes with regard to 
performance-enhancing substances. In both France and Italy, as a result of 
judicial intervention, Bills are being drafted against the practice.

Dr Escande pointed out that it is important to remember that medicine is 
for the sick. "Medication should not be used to treat the healthy. We must 
think about this because when when you treat healthy people in order to 
transform them, this is called experimenting on humans. It is foul play."

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Granma