The ICU maintains that EPO is undetectable, though a twin test using blood and urine samples was used at the Sydney Olympic Games last month. Nor is the trial likely to have an impact on most onlookers, because professional cycling has always been regarded as corrupted by drugs, says Patrick Laure, a drug specialist with the French Ministry of Youth and Sports. The trial will not alert parents and doctors to the fact that many adolescent athletes are already using performance-enhancing drugs, he says. Since the 1998 Tour de France scandal, the number of teenage athletes who say they are curious about the effects of such drugs has risen from 8 percent to 15 percent, according to a recent study. It is this sort of attitude, says Dr. Laure, that makes doping hard to eliminate.
People take vitamins to perk themselves up and sleeping pills to go to sleep.
Athletes did not invent doping. What is needed to tackle the issue is a change of attitude, Laure argues. This is a problem of behavior that laws can't deal with. The Monitor does not endorse the sites behind these links. We offer them for your additional research.