The Use of Erythropoietin EPO in Sports
The use of erythropoietin (EPO) by athletes in recent years has made the headlines of
sports pages around the world. In this essay we will look at the evidence of EPO use
in sport. What leads athletes to using it? We will also look at the advantages and
disadvantages of its use for someone who wishes to do so.
Athletes are continually seeking an added edge to attain better performances and
results. Many are prepared to use pharmaceutical agents to achieve their goals. They
don't have to look far as there are numerous ergogenic drugs available to them.
Recombinant EPO is one of the most prominent. The statistics of rhEPO
production worldwide paints a grim picture. Research done by an Italian lawyer
shows that only 20% of rhEPO production is required for medical purposes. 50% of
all rhEPO production is sold officially leaving the other 50% to fall into the wrong
hands. We must also wonder what happens to the other 80% not for medical use.
Cycling has always been a haven for performance enhancing drug use. At the 1998
Tour de France, the entire Festina team were disqualified including 4 times "King of
the Mountains," Richard Virenque on the grounds of drug abuse. The team masseur
Willy Voet was arrested at the French-Belgian border with vials of EPO. Ten
members of the Festina team are currently on trial for drug related charges. The wife
of Willy Voet testified that EPO among other drugs, "ended up taking more space
than food in our fridge."
In January of this year a police investigation was carried out at a biomedics research
centre in Ferrara, Italy. The search of the clinic run by a Professor Francesco C...
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...buted to rhEPO misuse in recent years.
Considering all the gains of rhEPO, its use still presents too great a risk. At the
Olympic Games this year a combined blood and urine test was introduced for the first
time. The tests were heralded as a breakthrough, a new era in the fight against drugs
in sport. No one at the Games tested positive. Therefore no one at the Games used
rhEPO! Unlikely. It is believed the users are 10 years ahead of the testers.
However these tests will now make it difficult to mask rhEPO when used throughout
the season. Advice must be given to athletes about the dangers of rhEPO use.
Alternative such as altitude training must be considered to avert athletes away from its
use. Many athletes desperate to become faster and stronger will inevitably cheat. So is
human nature.
Bibliography:
This is why we need to test for drugs at the Olympics. Drug Testing at the Olympics began only recently at the 1968 Games held in Mexico1. Drugs are banned for two very good reasons: the use of drugs produces an unfair advantage, and it is hazardous for the athlete to take them. While drug testing is now commonplace, the procedures are still fairly primitive and arouse much controversy2. We all remember the Andreea Raducan situation from the Sydney Olympics.
Clearly EPO use can boost performance but the risk to the user is just too great. Any method that can safely dissuade athletes away from this hazardous avenue of performance enhancement should be considered.
This essay will explain the hormone Erythropoietin, its effects and its role in the professional sporting industry. Explaining what Erythropoietin is, the process Erythropoiesis, its role in the body, its side effects vs. benefits and its role in modern sport will form the basis of this essay. By the conclusion of this essay my point of view will be that naturally occurring Erythropoietin is integral to homeostasis and synthetic Erythropoietin should only be used for specific medical conditions rather than as a performance enhancer in professional sport.
Certainly, future Tours will be significantly affected. The Union Cycliste Internationale and other sports officials are left with several burning questions; do they seek a better testing system? Clearly, they must protect athletes and the image of sports even though it is costly. Do they perform uniform versus random drug tests? Both are necessary to keep athletes and trainers accountable. In fact, the 1999 Tour promoted both forms of testing (Fife 208). If they do random tests, how do they enforce them? On this point, committees and sports federations are still debating.
Johnson, Dennis A. Ed. D. and John Acquaviva, Ph.D. “The Sport Journal.” The Sport Journal.
There are three main classifications of drugs in athletics. The first class is performance continuance drugs, which is the only accepted class in athletics. This class contains such drugs as aspirin, ibuprofen, and asthma inhalers. The se...
Each year athlete’s ability to perform seems to increase by leaps and bounds. Some reasons for this can be attributed to better training methods, better conditioning techniques, and better over all health of the athlete. While most situations involve one or more of the previously scenarios, some athletes always seem to take it to a step further. They engage in a process called blood doping. This procedure does increase physical performance and athletic ability, but potentially may do more harm than good.
Athletic staleness and burnout is a big problem for many of today’s athletes whether they are at the amateur or professional level. The good thing about this problem that ends up in total and complete physical and emotional exhaustion is that it can be recognized when it is taking place. It can also be treated if the recognition comes at too late of a stage of the onset of staleness and burnout. But the best remedy for athletic staleness and burnout is prevention of it in the first place. There are three different models that have been used to explain the causes of athlete burnout.
The “placebo effect” is defined as an effect of beliefs rather than a drug. In research athletes have been made to believe that they received anabolic steroids, carbohydrates, or caffeine and they performed better than baseline or control groups. The focus in placebo research in sport is one the role of beliefs as a psychological factor in performance. Sport psychologists have argued that many technologies, products, or substances that seem to have an effect on athletes performance have no clear biological basis but may simply be the result of the placebo effect.
The use of performance enhancing supplements has long played a role in athletics, especially after the utilization of drug testing was introduced during the 1972 Olympics.
4. Lajis, Razak Haji. The History Of Drug Abuse In Sports. 14 Apr. 2001 .
..., Kjetil K. "Why We Shouldn’t Allow Performance Enhancing Drugs in Sport." Academia.edu. Academia.edu, 1 Apr. 2011. Web. 06 Jan. 2014. .
...thlete under twenty-four hour surveillance is neither feasible nor lawful. Only when there are more accurate tests can the enforcement of drug rules and regulations be possible. As more sophisticated tests come to market, fewer drugs will escape detection. With the limited ability of current techniques to catch athletes red-handed, pressure must be put on the athletic community to reject doping. Until the athletic community refuses doping as a means to an end, little can be done to stop it from happening.
Drug use in sports is considered cheating. Doping has many historical backgrounds, but now it is on a larger scale in order to maximiz...
The usage of performance-enhancing drugs in sports is commonly known as Doping. Doping is banned worldwide in every sports administration and competitions and doping gives an unfair advantage to those using illegal substances, such as steroids to boost their performance. It also puts at stake the integrity of those athletes who do not use performance-enhancing drugs also known as “clean” athletes. In fact it seems that we’re now entering the era of performance-enhancing drugs within professional sports. Doping rids the true athletes of what they truly deserve and is wrong; because why should those who put in a hundred per cent of their effort, be outshone by individuals who are choosing to use substances to enhance their physical and mental abilities? Doping damages the sports industry as a whole because it has a serious physical and mental effects on the athletes, as well as damaging the idea of sportsmanship and it also breaks the trust of the fans, as they realise their idols are hypocrites.