Opinion: Performance-enhancing drugs or placebos? The myth at the heart of anti-doping
With Chinese swimmers getting 200 drug tests over 10 days ahead of the Paris Olympics, all eyes are on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Anti-doping is being politicized and some important questions are being asked with this Chinese fiasco. We believe an important question is this: Do performance-enhancing drugs actually work, or are they just placebos?
WADA bases its policies on a prohibited list of banned or performance-enhancing substances. To be placed on the list, a substance must meet at least two of three criteria: it is performance-enhancing; harmful to health; or a violation of the spirit of sport. Sanctions for using a substance on the list are severe, ranging from months of ineligibility and loss of rankings and earnings to lifetime bans from sport.
