Test for "Genetic Doping" Ready Soon. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said it hopes to have technology to combat the threat of "gene doping" soon. The move follows concern that gene therapy-used to treat chronic medical conditions-could be misused by unscrupulous athletes and trainers.
Professor Geoff Goldspink of University College, London, said he felt testing technology was "almost there."
"We can already detect illicit DNA and introduced gene products," he said. "We can put genes into mice and create 'Arnold Schwarzenegger' mice. If it can be done on mice, it can be done on humans."
Professor Goldspink said laboratory mice had proved that gene transfer could lead to a 25 percent leap in muscle mass inside two weeks.
WADA Offers New List of Banned Drugs. WADA has drawn up a new proposed list of banned substances. All-encompassing, it includes prohibited steroids, stimulants, blood-boosters, narcotics and other drugs.
Soccer Leader Objects to Two-Year Ban. In October, Sepp Blatter, the head of FIFA-soccer's international governing body-demonstrated once again the moral bankruptcy of the purported "leaders" of international sport. Blatter reiterated his objections to the mandatory two-year ban for serious doping offenses, a punishment imposed upon all international federations. Ironically, swimming activists, who had fought hard for a four-year ban and seen it enacted by FINA, were crushed by the IOC's and WADA's "minimalist," two-year ban, which FINA was bludgeoned into accepting in July.
Banned. Ukranians Natalia Khudyakova, 18, and Yuliya Pidlisna, 16, both tested positive for stanozolol, an old-line steroid used extensively by East Germany, and have been banned from swimming for two years.
Mexico's Juan Veloz was also handed a two-year ban after testing positive for steroids. However Veloz, a senior at the University of Arizona, will still be allowed to swim in NCAA competition.
Ban Reduced. FINA reduced the ban on 17 year-old Belarussian sprint champion, Alexandra Gerasimenya, from four years to two. In June, Gerasimenya tested positive for norandrosterone.
Reinstated: Costa Rica's Claudia Poll, Italy's Vivian Susin and the USA's Michael Picotte. All have served at least a two-year ban from competition.
In Germany, Franzi van Almsick criticized reduced bans for drug cheats. "If someone has tested positive, I think they should be banned for life," the 25-year-old world record holder said.
Copyright Sports Publications, Inc. Dec 2003
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