WADA approves 2011 list of prohibited substances

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has approved the list of prohibited substances for 2011 with several changes made from previous year, including addition of a section to address abuse of pharmacological substances, removal of mandatory Declaration of Use for specific substances not prohibited.

The WADA executive committee also reviewed the controversial "whereabouts" clause which required the athletes to give information about their location to the International Sport Federation (IF) or National Anti-Doping Organisation (NADO) three months in advance.

The new List will now be made official and published by October 1, 2010. It will take effect on January 1, 2011.

"The annual revision of the List is a consultative process facilitated by WADA, beginning with the circulation of a draft List among stakeholders," WADA said in a statement.

"Comments received are considered by WADA's List Expert Group, which then presents its conclusions to WADA's Health, Medical and Research Committee. The latter in turn submits its final recommendations to the Executive Committee, which discusses the recommendations and makes a final decision at its September meeting," it said.

"The Prohibited List is one of the cornerstones of the harmonised fight against doping. It specifies substances and methods prohibited in sport. Its implementation is mandatory for organisations that have adopted the WADA Code," it added.

WADA President John Fahey said the list was approved through consensus of the stakeholders.

"Thanks to the input from international scientific experts and stakeholders, the 2011 List once again reflects the latest scientific advances and broad consensus in the anti-doping community," said Fahey.

"As in previous years, changes are founded on expanding anti-doping knowledge, evidence from the field, and constantly growing understanding of doping practices and trends. This is a dynamic and successful process. As the facilitator of this process, WADA thanks all those who have contributed by providing expertise and feedback," he said.

"WADA constantly looks at ways of improving and enhancing the global fight against doping in sport. We have to challenge ourselves and those who fight against doping in general," said WADA's director general David Howman.

A new section -- 'Non-Approved Substances' -- has been added to the 2011 list. This 'open' section addresses the issue of the abuse of pharmacological substances for the purpose of performance enhancement that are not included in other sections of the List and that are not approved by any governmental regulatory health authority for human therapeutic use (i.e. drugs under pre-clinical or clinical development or discontinued).

These substances will be prohibited at all times (in and out-of-competition). In addition, platelet-derived preparations (commonly referred as PRP), which are currently prohibited when used by intra-muscular route, have been removed from the 2011 List after consideration of the lack of current evidence concerning the use of these methods for purposes of performance enhancement.

WADA said current studies on platelet-derived preparations do not demonstrate potential for performance enhancement beyond a potential therapeutic effect.

Another amendment was the removal of the obligation for athletes to file a Declaration of Use for specific substances that are not prohibited.

Declarations of Use, as distinguished from Therapeutic Use Exemptions (allowing use of prohibited substance), are currently required for salbutamol, salmeterol by inhalation; glucocorticosteroids administered by intra-articular, periarticular, peritendinous, epidural, intradermal and inhalation routes; as well as platelet-derived preparations that are not administered by intramuscular route.

Failure by an athlete to file a Declaration of Use does not currently result in an allegation of an anti-doping rule violation. This administrative requirement was therefore removed.

The Executive Committee also reviewed an Introductory Note on Athlete Whereabouts Requirements.

"Introductory Note helps further clarify the rationale for collecting athlete whereabouts information and assists anti-doping organisations in the practical implementation of the requirements," WADA said.

WADA said it will continue to consult with athletes and Code signatories and present potential recommendations for practical improvements on how whereabouts requirements are applied on an ongoing basis at the November meetings of WADA's Executive Committee and Foundation Board.

"Over the past few months, WADA has conducted a review of practical implementation of athlete whereabouts requirements by International Federations (IFs) and National Anti-Doping Organisations (NADOs) to assess how World Anti-Doping Code signatories have enforced whereabouts requirements under the Code and how they have exercised their discretion in the management of Registered Testing Pools," WADA said.

Results of survey circulated to anti-doping organizations by WADA earlier this year showed that Code signatories overwhelmingly support the principle of whereabouts and reported successful implementation of the rules.

The survey also indicated that there is still some misunderstanding from a number of anti-doping organisations as to the purpose of whereabouts requirements, it said.

The Executive Committee will hold its next meeting on November 20 here. The Foundation Board will meet the following day.