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Doping in sport
In competitive sports, doping refers to the use of banned athletic performance-enhancing drugs by athletic competitors, where the term doping is widely used by organizations that regulate sporting competitions. The use of drugs to enhance performance is considered unethical, and therefore prohibited, by most international sports organizations, including the International Olympic Committee.
Historically speaking, the origins of doping in sports go back to the very creation of sport itself. From ancient usage of substances in chariot racing to more recent controversies in baseball and cycling, popular views among athletes have varied widely from country to country over the years. The general trend among authorities and sporting organizations over the past several decades has been to strictly regulate the use of drugs in sport. The reasons for the ban are mainly the health risks of performance-enhancing drugs, the equality of opportunity for athletes, and the exemplary effect of drug-free sport for the public. Anti-doping authorities state that using performance-enhancing drugs goes against the "spirit of sport".
There are many suggestions as to the origin of the term doping. One is that it is derived from dop, an alcoholic drink used as a stimulant in ceremonial dances in 18th century Southern Africa.[1] Another suggestion is that the word comes from the Dutch word doop (a thick dipping sauce) that entered American slang to describe how robbers stupefied victims by mixing tobacco with the seeds of Datura stramonium (jimsonweed) which contains a number of tropane alkaloids, causing sedation, hallucinations and confusion.[2][3] By 1889, "dope" was used in connection with the preparation of a thick viscous preparation of opium for smoking, and during the 1890s this extended to any stupefying narcotic drug. In 1900, dope was also defined as "a preparation of drugs designed to influence" the performance of a racehorse.[4]
The use of drugs in sports goes back centuries, about all the way back to the very invention of the concept of sports.[5] In ancient times, when the fittest of a nation were selected as athletes or combatants, they were fed diets and given treatments considered beneficial. For instance, Scandinavian mythology says Berserkers could drink a mixture called "butotens", to greatly increase their physical power at the risk of insanity. One theory is that the mixture was prepared from the Amanita muscaria mushroom, though this has been disputed. The German missionary and doctor Albert Schweitzer wrote of Gabon in the early 19th century: "The people of the country can, having eaten certain leaves or roots, toil vigorously all day without feeling hungry, thirsty or tired and all the time showing a happiness and gaiety."[6]
The ancient Olympics in Greece have been alleged to have been contaminated with forms of doping. In ancient Rome, where chariot racing had become a huge part of their culture, athletes drank herbal infusions to strengthen them before chariot races.[5]
More recently, a participant in an endurance walking race in Britain, Abraham Wood, said in 1807 that he had used laudanum (which contains opiates) to keep him awake for 24 hours while competing against Robert Barclay Allardyce.[7] By April 1877, walking races had stretched to 500 miles and the following year, also at the Agricultural Hall in Islington, London, to 520 miles. The Illustrated London News chided:
- It may be an advantage to know that a man can travel 520 miles in 138 hours, and manage to live through a week with an infinitesimal amount of rest, though we fail to perceive that anyone could possibly be placed in a position where his ability in this respect would be of any use to him [and] what is to be gained by a constant repetition of the fact.[8]
The event proved popular, however, with 20,000 spectators attending each day.[9] Encouraged, the promoters developed the idea and soon held similar races for cyclists.
- "...and much more likely to endure their miseries publicly; a tired walker, after all, merely sits down – a tired cyclist falls off and possibly brings others crashing down as well. That's much more fun".[9]
The fascination with six-day bicycle races spread across the Atlantic and the same appeal brought in the crowds in America as well. And the more spectators paid at the gate, the higher the prizes could be and the greater was the incentive of riders to stay awake—or be kept awake—to ride the greatest distance. Their exhaustion was countered by soigneurs (the French word for "carers"), helpers akin to seconds in boxing. Among the treatments they supplied was nitroglycerine, a drug used to stimulate the heart after cardiac attacks and which was credited with improving riders' breathing.[10] Riders suffered hallucinations from the exhaustion and perhaps the drugs. The American champion Major Taylor refused to continue the New York race, saying: "I cannot go on with safety, for there is a man chasing me around the ring with a knife in his hand."[11]
Public reaction turned against such trials, whether individual races or in teams of two. One report said:
- An athletic contest in which the participants 'go queer' in their heads, and strain their powers until their faces become hideous with the tortures that rack them, is not sport, it is brutality. It appears from the reports of this singular performance that some of the bicycle riders have actually become temporarily insane during the contest... Days and weeks of recuperation will be needed to put the racers in condition, and it is likely that some of them will never recover from the strain.[12]
The father of anabolic steroids in the United States was John Ziegler (1917–1983), a physician for the U.S. weightlifting team in the mid-20th century. Ziegler learned from his Russian days that the Soviet weightlifting team's success was due to their use of performance-enhancing drugs. Deciding that U.S. athletes needed chemical assistance to remain competitive, Ziegler worked with the CIBA Pharmaceutical Company to develop an oral anabolic steroid. This resulted in the creation of methandrostenolone, which appeared on the market in 1960. During the Olympics that year, the Danish cyclist Knud Enemark Jensen collapsed and died while competing in the 100-kilometer (62-mile) race. An autopsy later revealed the presence of amphetamines and a drug called nicotinyl tartrate in his system.
The American specialist in doping, Max M. Novich, wrote: "Trainers of the old school who supplied treatments which had cocaine as their base declared with assurance that a rider tired by a six-day race would get his second breath after absorbing these mixtures."[13] John Hoberman, a professor at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, said six-day races were "de facto experiments investigating the physiology of stress as well as the substances that might alleviate exhaustion."[14]
Strychnine at the Olympics
These "de facto experiments investigating the physiology of stress as well as the substances that might alleviate exhaustion" were not unknown outside cycling.
Thomas Hicks, an American born in England on 7 January 1875, won the Olympic marathon in 1904. He crossed the line behind a fellow American Fred Lorz, who had been transported for 11 miles of the course by his trainer, leading to his disqualification. However, Hicks's trainer Charles Lucas, pulled out a syringe and came to his aid as his runner began to struggle.
- I therefore decided to inject him with a milligram of sulphate of strychnine and to make him drink a large glass brimming with brandy. He set off again as best he could [but] he needed another injection four miles from the end to give him a semblance of speed and to get him to the finish.[15]
The use of strychnine, at the time, was thought necessary to survive demanding races, according to sports historians Alain Lunzenfichter[16] and historian of sports doping, Dr Jean-Pierre de Mondenard, who said:
- It has to be appreciated that at the time the menace of doping for the health of athletes or of the purity of competition had yet to enter the morals because, after this marathon, the official race report said: The marathon has shown from a medical point of view how drugs can be very useful to athletes in long-distance races.[7]
Hicks was, in the phrase of the time, "between life and death" but recovered, collected his gold medal a few days later, and lived until 1952. Nonetheless, he never again took part in athletics.[17]
Goldman's dilemma
Goldman's dilemma, or the Goldman dilemma, is a question that was posed to elite athletes by physician, osteopath and publicist Bob Goldman, asking whether they would take a drug that would guarantee them success in sport, but cause them to die after five years. In his research, as in previous research by Mirkin, approximately half the athletes responded that they would take the drug,[18] but modern research by James Connor and co-workers has yielded much lower numbers, with athletes having levels of acceptance of the dilemma that were similar to the general population of Australia.[19][20]
Stimulants are drugs that usually act on the central nervous system to modulate mental function and behavior, increasing an individual's sense of excitement and decreasing the sensation of fatigue. In the World Anti-Doping Agency list of prohibited substances, stimulants are the second largest class after the anabolic steroids.[21] Examples of well known stimulants include caffeine, cocaine, amphetamine, modafinil, and ephedrine. Caffeine, although a stimulant has not been banned by the International Olympic Committee or the World Anti Doping Agency since 2004.[22]
Benzedrine is a trade name for amphetamine. The Council of Europe says it first appeared in sport at the Berlin Olympics in 1936.[23] It was produced in 1887 and the derivative, Benzedrine, was isolated in the U.S. in 1934 by Gordon Alles. Its perceived effects gave it the street name "speed". British troops used 72 million amphetamine tablets in the Second World War[7] and the RAF got through so many that "Methedrine won the Battle of Britain" according to one report.[24] The problem was that amphetamine leads to a lack of judgement and a willingness to take risks, which in sport could lead to better performances but in fighters and bombers led to more crash landings than the RAF could tolerate. The drug was withdrawn but large stocks remained on the black market. Amphetamine was also used legally as an aid to slimming and also as a thymoleptic before being phased out by the appearance of newer agents in the 1950s.
Everton, one of the top clubs in the English football league, were champions of the 1962–63 season. And it was done, according to a national newspaper investigation, with the help of Benzedrine. Word spread after Everton's win that the drug had been involved. The newspaper investigated, cited where the reporter believed it had come from, and quoted the goalkeeper, Albert Dunlop, as saying:
- I cannot remember how they first came to be offered to us. But they were distributed in the dressing rooms. We didn't have to take them but most of the players did. The tablets were mostly white but once or twice they were yellow. They were used through the 1961–62 season and the championship season which followed it. Drug-taking had previously been virtually unnamed in the club. But once it had started we could have as many tablets as we liked. On match days they were handed out to most players as a matter of course. Soon some of the players could not do without the drugs.[25]
The club agreed that drugs had been used but that they "could not possibly have had any harmful effect." Dunlop, however, said he had become an addict.[25]
In November 1942, the Italian cyclist Fausto Coppi took "seven packets of amphetamine" to beat the world hour record on the track.[26] In 1960, the Danish rider Knud Enemark Jensen collapsed during the 100 km team time trial at the Olympic Games in Rome and died later in hospital. The autopsy showed he had taken amphetamine and another drug, Ronicol, which dilates the blood vessels. The chairman of the Dutch cycling federation, Piet van Dijk, said of Rome that "dope – whole cartloads – [were] used in such royal quantities."[27]
The 1950s British cycling professional Jock Andrews would joke: "You need never go off-course chasing the peloton in a big race – just follow the trail of empty syringes and dope wrappers."[28]
The Dutch cycling team manager Kees Pellenaars told of a rider in his care:
- I took him along to a training camp in Spain. The boy changed then into a sort of lion. He raced around as though he was powered by rockets. I went to talk to him. He was really happy he was riding well and he told me to look out for him. I asked if he wasn't perhaps "using something" and he jumped straight up, climbed on a chair and from deep inside a cupboard he pulled out a plastic bag full of pills. I felt my heart skip a beat. I had never seen so many fireworks together. With a soigneur we counted the pills: there were 5,000 of them, excluding hormone preparations and sleeping pills. I took them away, to his own relief. I let him keep the hormones and the sleeping pills. Later he seemed to have taken too many at once and he slept for a couple of days on end. We couldn't wake him up. We took him to hospital and they pumped out his stomach. They tied him to his bed to prevent anything going wrong again. But one way or another he had some stimulant and fancied taking a walk. A nurse came across him in the corridor, walking along with the bed strapped to his back.[29]
Currently modafinil is being used throughout the sporting world, with many high-profile cases attracting press coverage as prominent United States athletes have tested positive for this substance. Some athletes who were found to have used modafinil protested as the drug was not on the prohibited list at the time of their offence, however, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) maintains it is a substance related to those already banned, so the decisions stand. Modafinil was added to the list of prohibited substances on 3 August 2004, ten days before the start of the 2004 Summer Olympics.
One approach of athletes to get around regulations on stimulants is to use new designer stimulants, which have not previously been officially prohibited, but have similar chemical structures or biological effects. Designer stimulants that attracted media attention in 2010 included mephendrone, ephendrome, and fluoroamphetamines; which have chemical structures and effects similar to ephedrine and amphetamine.
Anabolic steroids
Anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) were first isolated, identified and synthesized in the 1930s, and are now used therapeutically in medicine to induce bone growth, stimulate appetite, induce male puberty, and treat chronic wasting conditions, such as cancer and AIDS. Anabolic steroids also increase muscle mass and physical strength, and are therefore used in sports and bodybuilding to enhance strength or physique. Known side effects include harmful changes in cholesterol levels (increased Low density lipoprotein and decreased High density lipoprotein), acne, high blood pressure, liver damage. Some of these effects can be mitigated by taking supplemental drugs.[30]
AAS use in sports began in October 1954 when John Ziegler, a doctor who treated American athletes, went to Vienna with the American weightlifting team. There he met a Russian physician who, over "a few drinks", repeatedly asked "What are you giving your boys?" When Ziegler returned the question, the Russian said that his own athletes were being given testosterone. Returning to America, Ziegler tried low doses of testosterone on himself, on the American trainer Bob Hoffman and on two lifters, Jim Park and Yaz Kuzahara. All gained more weight and strength than any training programme would produce but there were side-effects.[31] Ziegler sought a drug without after-effects and hit on an anabolic steroid, methandrostenolone, (Dianabol, DBOL), made in the US in 1958 by Ciba.[32][33]
The results were so impressive that lifters began taking more, and steroids spread to other sports. Paul Lowe, a former running back with the San Diego Chargers American football team, told a California legislative committee on drug abuse in 1970: "We had to take them [steroids] at lunchtime. He [an official] would put them on a little saucer and prescribed them for us to take them and if not he would suggest there might be a fine."
Olympic statistics show the weight of shot putters increased 14 percent between 1956 and 1972, whereas steeplechasers weight increased 7.6 per cent. The gold medalist pentathlete Mary Peters said: "A medical research team in the United States attempted to set up extensive research into the effects of steroids on weightlifters and throwers, only to discover that there were so few who weren't taking them that they couldn't establish any worthwhile comparisons."[34] In 1984, Jay Silvester, a former four-time Olympian and 1972 silver medalist in the discus, who was then with the physical education department of Brigham Young University in the U.S., questioned competitors at that year's Olympics.[35] The range of steroid use he found ranged from 10 mg a day to 100 mg.
Question | Yes (%) | No (%) | Other (%) |
Have you taken anabolic steroids within the past six months? | 61 | 39 | 0 |
Have you ever taken anabolic steroids? | 68 | 32 | 0 |
Ethically, do you approve of anabolic steroids in athletics? | 50 | 27 | 23 |
If a test could positively identify steroid users, would you favour banishment of the drug in sport? | 48 | 35 | 17 |
Are you aware of any specific reason why athletes who have not attained full maturity should avoid anabolic steroid usage? | 42 | 48 | 10 |
If you were a coach, would you commend anabolic steroid usage to (mature) athletes in your event? | 45 | 35 | 20 |
Do you feel anabolic steroids have positively affected the performance of athletes in your event? | 65 | 16 | 19 |
Do you feel that steroids have negatively affected the performance of athletes in your event? | 6 | 61 | 33 |
Do you feel that steroids enable a person to gain strength faster than otherwise possible? | 84 | 3 | 13 |
Do you believe that steroids enable a person to gain cardio-respiratory endurance more quickly than otherwise possible? | 13 | 42 | 45 |
Do you believe that steroids enable a person to gain greater cardio-respiratory endurance than otherwise possible? | 6 | 45 | 49 |
Have you ever gained localised muscular endurance faster when taking anabolic steroids? | 48 | 42 | 10 |
Have you gained greater local muscular endurance faster when taking anabolic steroids? | 32 | 22 | 46 |
Do steroids enhance mental attitude? Do you feel more in control of your life? Do you feel you will perform better in your event? | 68 | 10 | 22 |
Has steroid usage appeared to contribute to injury problems? | 26 | 32 | 42 |
Are you aware of the undesirable side-effects? | 74 | 19 | 7 |
Do steroids increase body weight? | 55 | 16 | 29 |
Are steroids difficult to obtain? | 22 | 61 | 17 |
[36][37] Dianabol is no longer produced but similar drugs are made elsewhere. The use of anabolic steroids is now banned by all major sporting bodies, including the ATP, WTA, ITF, International Olympic Committee, FIFA, UEFA, all major professional golf tours, the National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the European Athletic Association, WWE, the NFL and the UCI. However, drug testing can be wildly inconsistent and, in some instances, has gone unenforced.
A number of studies measuring anabolic steroid use in high school athletes found that out of all 12th grade students, 6.6 percent of them had used anabolic steroids at some point in their high school careers or were approached and counseled to use them. Of those students who acknowledged doping with anabolic–androgenic steroids, well over half participated in school-sponsored athletics, including football, wrestling, track and field, and baseball. A second study showed 6.3 percent of high school student Football players admitted to current or former AAS use. At the collegiate level, surveys show that AAS use among athletes range from 5 percent to 20 percent and continues to rise. The study found that skin changes were an early marker of steroid use in young athletes, and underscored the important role that dermatologists could play in the early detection and intervention in these athletes.[38]
1988 Seoul Olympics
A famous case of AAS use in a competition was Canadian Ben Johnson's victory in the 100 m at the 1988 Summer Olympics.[39] He subsequently failed the drug test when stanozolol was found in his urine. He later admitted to using the steroid as well as Dianabol, testosterone, Furazabol, and human growth hormone amongst other things. Johnson was stripped of his gold medal as well as his world-record performance. Carl Lewis was then promoted one place to take the Olympic gold title. Lewis had also run under the current world record time and was therefore recognized as the new record holder.[40] In 2003, however, Wade Exum, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) director of drug control administration from 1991 to 2000, gave copies of documents to Sports Illustrated which revealed that some 100 American athletes who failed drug tests and should have been prevented from competing in the Olympics were nevertheless cleared to compete, among those athletes was Carl Lewis.
Lewis broke his silence on allegations that he was the beneficiary of a drugs cover-up, admitting he had tested positive for banned substances but claiming he was just one of "hundreds" of American athletes who were allowed to escape bans, concealed by the USOC. Lewis has now acknowledged that he failed three tests during the 1988 US Olympic trials, which under international rules at the time should have prevented him from competing in the Seoul games.[41] Former athletes and officials came out against the USOC cover-up. "For so many years I lived it. I knew this was going on, but there's absolutely nothing you can do as an athlete. You have to believe governing bodies are doing what they are supposed to do. And it is obvious they did not," said former American sprinter and 1984 Olympic champion, Evelyn Ashford.[42]
East Germany
In 1977, one of East Germany's best sprinters, Renate Neufeld, fled to the West with the Bulgarian she later married. A year later she said that she had been told to take drugs supplied by coaches while training to represent East Germany in the 1980 Olympic Games.
- At 17, I joined the East Berlin Sports Institute. My speciality was the 80m hurdles. We swore that we would never speak to anyone about our training methods, including our parents. The training was very hard. We were all watched. We signed a register each time we left for dormitory and we had to say where we were going and what time we would return. One day, my trainer, Günter Clam, advised me to take pills to improve my performance: I was running 200m in 24 seconds. My trainer told me the pills were vitamins, but I soon had cramp in my legs, my voice became gruff and sometimes I couldn't talk any more. Then I started to grow a moustache and my periods stopped. I then refused to take these pills. One morning in October 1977, the secret police took me at 7am and questioned me about my refusal to take pills prescribed by the trainer. I then decided to flee, with my fiancé.[43][44]
She brought with her to the West grey tablets and green powder she said had been given to her, to members of her club, and to other athletes. The West German doping analyst Manfred Donike reportedly identified them as anabolic steroids. She said she stayed quiet for a year for the sake of her family. But when her father then lost his job and her sister was expelled from her handball club, she decided to tell her story.[43]
East Germany closed itself to the sporting world in May 1965.[7] In 1977, the shot-putter Ilona Slupianek, who weighed 93 kg, tested positive for anabolic steroids at the European Cup meeting in Helsinki and thereafter athletes were tested before they left the country. At the same time, the Kreischa testing laboratory near Dresden passed into government control, which was reputed to make around 12,000 tests a year on East German athletes but without any being penalised.[7]
The International Amateur Athletics Federation suspended Slupianek for 12 months, a penalty that ended two days before the European championships in Prague. In the reverse of what the IAAF hoped, sending her home to East Germany meant she was free to train unchecked with anabolic steroids, if she wanted to, and then compete for another gold medal, which she won.
After that, almost nothing emerged from the East German sports schools and laboratories. A rare exception was the visit by the sports writer and former athlete, Doug Gilbert of the Edmonton Sun, who said:
- Dr (Heinz) Wuschech knows more about anabolic steroids than any doctor I have ever met, and yet he cannot discuss them openly any more than Geoff Capes or Mac Wilkins can openly discuss them in the current climate of amateur sports regulation. What I did learn in East Germany was that they feel there is little danger from anabolica, as they call it, when the athletes are kept on strictly monitored programmes. Although the extremely dangerous side-effects are admitted, they are statistically no more likely to occur than side-effects from the birth control pill. If, that is, programmes are constantly medically monitored as to dosage.[45]
Other reports came from the occasional athlete who fled to the West. There were 15 between 1976 and 1979. One, the ski-jumper Hans-Georg Aschenbach, said: "Long-distance skiers start having injections to their knees from the age 14 because of their intensive training."[7] He said: "For every Olympic champion, there at least 350 invalids. There are gymnasts among the girls who have to wear corsets from the age of 18 because their spine and their ligaments have become so worn... There are young people so worn out by the intensive training that they come out of it mentally blank [lessivés – washed out], which is even more painful than a deformed spine."[46]
After German reunification, on 26 August 1993 the records were opened and the evidence was there that the Stasi, the state secret police, supervised systematic doping of East German athletes from 1971 until reunification in 1990. Doping existed in other countries, says the expert Jean-Pierre de Mondenard, both communist and capitalist, but the difference with East Germany was that it was a state policy.[47] The Sportvereinigung Dynamo (English:Dynamo Sports Club)[48] was especially singled out as a center for doping in the former East Germany.[49] Many former club officials and some athletes found themselves charged after the dissolution of the country. A special page on the internet was created by doping victims trying to gain justice and compensation, listing people involved in doping in the GDR.[50]
State-endorsed doping began with the Cold War when every eastern bloc gold was an ideological victory. From 1974, Manfred Ewald, the head of the GDR's sports federation, imposed blanket doping. At the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, the country of 17 million collected nine gold medals. Four years later the total was 20 and in 1976 it doubled again to 40.[51] Ewald was quoted as having told coaches, "They're still so young and don't have to know everything." He was given a 22-month suspended sentence, to the outrage of his victims.[52] Often, doping was carried out without the knowledge of the athletes, some of them as young as ten years of age. It is estimated that around 10,000 former athletes bear the physical and mental scars of years of drug abuse,[53] one of them is Rica Reinisch, a triple Olympic champion and world record-setter at the Moscow Games in 1980, has since suffered numerous miscarriages and recurring ovarian cysts.[53]
Two former Dynamo Berlin club doctors, Dieter Binus, chief of the national women's team from 1976 to 80, and Bernd Pansold, in charge of the sports medicine center in East-Berlin, were committed for trial for allegedly supplying 19 teenagers with illegal substances.[54] Binus was sentenced in August,[55] Pansold in December 1998 after both being found guilty of administering hormones to underage female athletes from 1975 to 1984.[56]
Virtually no East German athlete ever failed an official drugs test, though Stasi files show that many did produce positive tests at Kreischa, the Saxon laboratory (German:Zentrales Dopingkontroll-Labor des Sportmedizinischen Dienstes) that was at the time approved by the International Olympic Committee,[57] now called the Institute of Doping Analysis and Sports Biochemistry (IDAS).[58] In 2005, 15 years after the end of the GDR, the manufacturer of the drugs in former East Germany, Jenapharm, still finds itself involved in numerous lawsuits from doping victims, being sued by almost 200 former athletes.[59]
Former Sport Club Dynamo athletes who publicly admitted to doping, accusing their coaches:[60]
Former Sport Club Dynamo athletes disqualified for doping:
- Ilona Slupianek[61] (Ilona Slupianek was tested positive along with three Finnish athletes at the 1977 European Cup, becoming the only East German athlete ever to be convicted of doping)
Based on the admission by Pollack, the United States Olympic Committee asked for the redistribution of gold medals won in the 1976 Summer Olympics.[62] Despite court rulings in Germany that substantiate claims of systematic doping by some East German swimmers, the IOC executive board announced that it has no intention of revising the Olympic record books. In rejecting the American petition on behalf of its women's medley relay team in Montreal and a similar petition from the British Olympic Association on behalf of Sharron Davies, the IOC made it clear that it wanted to discourage any such appeals in the future.[63]
Football (soccer)
There have been few incidents of doping in football, mainly due to FIFA's belief that education and prevention with constant in and out-of-competition controls play a key role in making high-profile competitions free of performance-enhancing drugs.[64] The FIFA administration work alongside team physicians to fight for dope free competitions, having them sign a joint declaration that states they agree with having routine blood testing to check for blood doping before any FIFA world cup.[65]
In 2014, the biological passport is introduced in the 2014 FIFA World Cup; blood and urine samples from all players before the competition and from two players per team and per match are analysed by the Swiss Laboratory for Doping Analyses.[66]
Endurance sports
The use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport has become an increasing problem across a wide range of sports.[67] It is defined as any substance or drug that, when taken, gives an athlete an unfair advantage relative to a "clean" athlete.[67] The banning of these drugs promotes a level playing field and equality among athletes.[68] The use of 'the suit' in swimming, which gives athletes an advantage in the way of hydrodynamics, has been banned from international competition due to the unfair advantage it delivered.[69] The drugs taken by athletes differ widely based on the performance needs of the sport.
Erythropoietin (EPO) is largely taken by endurance athletes who seek a higher level of red blood cells, which leads to more oxygenated blood, and a higher VO2 max. An athlete's VO2 max is highly correlated with success within endurance sports such as swimming, long-distance running, cycling, rowing, and cross-country skiing. EPO has recently become prevalent amongst endurance athletes due to its potentcy and low degree of detectability when compared to other methods of doping such as blood transfusion. While EPO is believed to have been widely used by athletes in the 1990s, there was not a way to directly test for the drug until 2002. Athletes at the Olympic Games are tested for EPO through blood and urine tests. Stringent guidelines and regulations can lessen the danger of doping that has existed within some endurance sports. As of 2012, 18 pro cyclists in the last 15 years have died from using EPO.[70]
The Convicts of the Road
In 1924 the journalist Albert Londres followed the Tour de France for the French newspaper Le Petit Parisien. At Coutances he heard that the previous year's winner, Henri Pélissier, his brother Francis and a third rider, Maurice Ville, had resigned from the competition after an argument with the organiser Henri Desgrange. Pélissier explained the problem—whether or not he had the right to take off a jersey—and went on to talk of drugs, reported in Londres' race diary, in which he invented the phrase Les Forçats de la Route (The Convicts of the Road):
- "You have no idea what the Tour de France is," Henri said. "It's a Calvary. Worse than that, because the road to the Cross has only 14 stations and ours has 15. We suffer from the start to the end. You want to know how we keep going? Here..." He pulled a phial from his bag. "That's cocaine, for our eyes. This is chloroform, for our gums."
- "This," Ville said, emptying his shoulder bag "is liniment to put warmth back into our knees."
- "And pills. Do you want to see pills? Have a look, here are the pills." Each pulled out three boxes.
- "The truth is," Francis said, "that we keep going on dynamite."
Henri spoke of being as white as shrouds once the dirt of the day had been washed off, then of their bodies being drained by diarrhea, before continuing:
- "At night, in our rooms, we can't sleep. We twitch and dance and jig about as though we were doing St Vitus's Dance..."
- "There's less flesh on our bodies than on a skeleton," Francis said.[71]
Francis Pélissier said much later: "Londres was a famous reporter but he didn't know about cycling. We kidded him a bit with our cocaine and our pills. Even so, the Tour de France in 1924 was no picnic."[7][72] The acceptance of drug-taking in the Tour de France was so complete by 1930, when the race changed to national teams that were to be paid for by the organisers, that the rule book distributed to riders by the organiser, Henri Desgrange, reminded them that drugs were not among items with which they would be provided.[73] The use of Pot Belge by road cyclists in continental Europe exemplifies a cross-over between recreational and performance-enhancing abuse of drugs by sportsman.
Festina affair
In 1998, the entire Festina team were excluded from the Tour de France following the discovery of a team car containing large amounts of various performance-enhancing drugs. The team director later admitted that some of the cyclists were routinely given banned substances. Six other teams pulled out in protest including Dutch team TVM who left the tour still being questioned by the police. The Festina scandal overshadowed cyclist Marco Pantani's tour win, but he himself later failed a test. The infamous "pot belge" or "Belgian mix" has a decades-long history in pro cycling, among both riders and support staff. David Millar, the 2003 World-Time Trial Champion, admitted using EPO, and was stripped of his title and suspended for two years. Roberto Heras was stripped of his victory in the 2005 Vuelta a España and suspended for two years after testing positive for EPO.
Floyd Landis
Floyd Landis was the initial winner of the 2006 Tour de France. However, a urine sample taken from Landis immediately after his Stage 17 win has twice tested positive for banned synthetic testosterone as well as a ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone nearly three times the limit allowed by World Anti-Doping Agency rules.[74] The International Cycling Union stripped him of his 2006 Tour de France title. Second place finisher Óscar Pereiro was officially declared the winner.[75]
Lance Armstrong doping case
Lance Armstrong was world number one in 1996. In the same year he recovered from severe testicular cancer and continued to break records and win his seventh Tour de France in 2005. After beating cancer and breaking records he was accused of doping.[76] Team mates of Lance had been caught taking EPO (Erythropoietin) which made the accusations against Armstrong stronger.[77]
On 22 October 2012 Lance Armstrong was stripped of his Tour de France titles since 1998.[78] As a response to the decisions of the USADA and UCI, Armstrong resigned from the Lance Armstrong Foundation[79] On 14 January 2013, Armstrong confessed to doping in an interview with Oprah Winfrey which was aired on 17 January on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Other endurance sports
In triathlon, 2004 Hawaii Ironman winner Nina Kraft, was disqualified for a positive test to EPO. She remains the only Hawaii Ironman winner to be disqualified for doping offences. Sports lawyer Michelle Gallen has said that the pursuit of doping athletes has turned into a modern-day witch-hunt.[80]
Non-endurance sports
In sports where physical strength is favored, athletes have used anabolic steroids, known for their ability to increase physical strength and muscle mass.[81] The drug mimics the effect of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone in the body.[81] They were developed after Eastern Bloc countries demonstrated success in weightlifting during the 1940s.[81] At the time they were using testosterone, which carried with it negative effects, anabolic steroids were developed as a solution. The drug has been used across a wide range of sports from football and basketball to weightlifting and track and field. While not as life-threatening as the drugs used in endurance sports, anabolic steroids have negative side effects, including:
Side effects in men
- acne
- impaired liver function
- impotency
- breast formation (gynecomastia)
- increase in estrogen
- erectile dysfunction
- increased sex drive
- male pattern baldness
Side effects in women
Side effects in women include:[82]
- hair loss
- male pattern baldness
- hypertrophy of the clitoris
- increased sex drive
- irregularities of the menstrual cycle
- development of masculine facial traits
- increased coarseness of the skin
- premature closure of the epiphysis
In countries where the use of these drugs is controlled, there is often a black market trade of smuggled or counterfeit drugs. The quality of these drugs may be poor and can cause health risks. In countries where anabolic steroids are strictly regulated, some have called for a regulatory relief. Steroids are available over-the-counter in some countries such as Thailand and Mexico.
Reaction from sports organizations
Many sports organizations have banned the use of performance-enhancing drugs and have very strict rules and penalties for people who are caught using them. The International Amateur Athletic Federation, now the International Association of Athletics Federations, were the first international governing body of sport to take the situation seriously. In 1928 they banned participants from doping, but with little in the way of testing available they had to rely on the word of the athlete that they were clean.[83] It was not until 1966 that FIFA and Union Cycliste Internationale (cycling) joined the IAAF in the fight against drugs, followed by the International Olympic Committee the following year.[84] Progression in pharmacology has always outstripped the ability of sports federations to implement rigorous testing procedures but since the creation of the World Anti-Doping Agency in 1999, it has become more effective to catch athletes who use drugs.[85] The first tests for athletes were at the 1966 European Championships and two years later the IOC implemented their first drug tests at both the Summer and Winter Olympics.[86] Anabolic steroids became prevalent during the 1970s and after a method of detection was found they were added to the IOC's prohibited substances list in 1975.[87]
Over the years, different sporting bodies have evolved differently in the struggle against doping. Some, such as athletics and cycling, are becoming increasingly vigilant against doping. However, there has been criticism that sports such as football (soccer) and baseball are doing nothing about the issue, and letting athletes implicated in doping away unpunished.
Some commentators maintain that, as outright prevention of doping is an impossibility, all doping should be legalised. However, most disagree with this, pointing out the claimed harmful long-term effects of many doping agents. Opponents claim that with doping legal, all competitive athletes would be compelled to use drugs, and the net effect would be a level playing field but with widespread health consequences. Considering that anti-doping is largely ineffective due to both testing limitations and lack of enforcement, this is not markedly different from the situation already in existence.
Another point of view is that doping could be legalized to some extent using a drug whitelist and medical counseling, such that medical safety is ensured, with all usage published. Under such a system, it is likely that athletes would attempt cheat by exceeding official limits to try to gain an advantage; this could be considered conjecture as drug amounts do not always correlate linearly with performance gains.
Anti-Doping organizations and legislation
- In February 2011, the United States Olympic Committee and the Ad Council launched an anti-steroid campaign called Play Asterisk Free aimed at teens. The campaign first launched in 2008 under the name "Don't Be An Asterisk!".[88]
- In October 2012, the USADA released evidence to corroborate their doping claim against cyclist Lance Armstrong. According to USADA CEO Travis T. Tygart, the evidence against Armstrong includes, "...scientific data and laboratory test results that further prove the use, possession and distribution of performance enhancing drugs".[89]
- On 1 November 1989, US Senator Joseph Biden introduced S. 1829, The Steroid Trafficking Act of 1989. The purpose of the act was simple: It would "amend the Controlled Substances Act to further restrict the use of steroids. By designating anabolic steroids as a Schedule II controlled substance, the bill would crack down on illegal steroid use". (Senate Judiciary Committee, 2002, p. 282).[90]
Test methods
Under established doping control protocols, the participant will be asked to provide a urine sample, which will be divided into two, each portion to be preserved within sealed containers bearing the same unique identifying number and designation respectively as A- and B-samples.[91] WADA's Executive Committee and Foundation Board clarified at a meeting on 19–20 November, that an athlete whose A-sample has revealed the presence of a prohibited substance or method to request the analysis of his or her B-sample:
"The B-sample helps confirm that an anti-doping rule violation has occurred and protects the rights of the athletes", said WADA Director General David Howman. "It should be stressed that anti-doping is one of the few types of controls in society in which a confirmation procedure is used in order to protect individuals, and the very rare cases in which the analysis of the B-sample did not match the results of the A-sample have shown the usefulness of such procedure."[92]
Re-testing of samples
According to Article 6.5 in the World Anti-Doping Code samples may be re-tested later. Samples from high-profile events, such as the Olympic Games, are now re-tested up to eight years later to take advantage of new techniques for detecting banned substances.[93][94]
Cheating the tests
Athletes seeking to avoid testing positive use various methods. The most common methods include:
- Urine replacement, which involves replacing dirty urine with clean urine from someone who is not taking banned substances. Urine replacement can be done by catheterization or with a prosthetic penis such as The Original Whizzinator.
- Diuretics, used to cleanse the system before having to provide a sample.
- Blood transfusions, which increase the blood's oxygen carrying capacity, in turn increasing endurance without the presence of drugs that could trigger a positive test result.
Donald Berry, writing in the journal Nature, has called attention to potential problems with the validity of ways in which many of the standardised tests are performed;[95][subscription required] in his article, as described in an accompanying editorial, Berry
argues that anti-doping authorities have not adequately defined and publicized how they arrived at the criteria used to determine whether or not a test result is positive [which are] ...calibrated in part by testing a small number of volunteers taking the substance in question. [Berry argues] ...that individual labs need to verify these detection limits in larger groups that include known dopers and non-dopers under blinded conditions that mimic what happens during competition.[96]
The editorial closes, saying "Nature believes that accepting 'legal limits' of specific metabolites without such rigorous verification goes against the foundational standards of modern science, and results in an arbitrary test for which the rate of false positives and false negatives can never be known."[96]
G. Pascal Zachary argues in a Wired essay that legalizing performance-enhancing substances, as well as genetic enhancements once they became available, would satisfy society's need for übermenschen and reverse the decline in public interest in sports.[97]
Sports scholar Verner Moller argues that society is hypocritical when it holds athletes to moral standards, but do not conform to those morals themselves.[98] Fox Sports writer Jen Floyd Engel stated in an article, "We live in a pharmacological society. We live in a society of short cuts, of fake this and enhanced that, and somehow we keep trying to sell the line that sports has become this evil empire of cheating. The reality is athletes are merely doing what so many of us do and celebrate and watch every single day of our lives."[99]
Sociologist Ellis Cashmore argues that what is considered doping is too arbitrary: Transfusing blood cells is not allowed, but other methods of boosting blood cell count, such as hypobaric chambers, are allowed.[100]
Anti-doping policies instituted by individual sporting governing bodies may conflict with local laws. A notable case includes the National Football League (NFL) inability to suspend players found with banned substances, after it was ruled by a federal court, that local labor laws superseded the NFL's anti-doping regime. The challenge was supported by the National Football League Players Association.[101][102]
Athletes caught doping may be subject to penalties from their locality as well from the individual sporting governing body. The legal status of anabolic steroids varies from country to country. Using performance-enhancing drugs in mixed martial arts competitions like the UFC could find the guilty fighter charged or sued once Bill S-209 passes.[103]
Under certain circumstances, when athletes need to take a prohibited substance to treat a medical condition, a therapeutic use exemption may be granted.[104]
See also
- Gene doping
- Stem cell doping
- BALCO scandal
- Concussions in sport
- Doping at the Olympic Games
- Doping in pigeon racing
- Equine drug testing
- ↑ Verroken Baillière's (2000) Clin Endocrinol Metab; 14: 1–23. cited by Higgins A. J. (2006). "From ancient Greece to modern Athens: 3000 years of doping". Journal of Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics. 29 (S1): 4–8. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2885.2006.00770_4.x.
- ↑ Clarke (1962) Med Leg J; 30: 180–194. cited by Higgins A. J. (2006). "From ancient Greece to modern Athens: 3000 years of doping". Journal of Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics. 29 (S1): 4–8. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2885.2006.00770_4.x.
- ↑ Ratsch (2005), The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants: Ethnopharmacology and its Applications. Rochester Ed. Park Street Press.cited by Higgins A. J. (2006). "From ancient Greece to modern Athens: 3000 years of doping". Journal of Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics. 29 (S1): 4–8. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2885.2006.00770_4.x.
- ↑ Barnhart (2003). In Chambers Dictionary of Etymology. Chambers Harrap, Edinburgh, cited by Higgins A. J. (2006). "From ancient Greece to modern Athens: 3000 years of doping". Journal of Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics. 29 (S1): 4–8. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2885.2006.00770_4.x.
- 1 2 Kumar, Rajesh (1 September 2010). "Competing against doping". Br J Sports Med. 44 (Suppl 1): i8–i8. doi:10.1136/bjsm.2010.078725.23. Retrieved 9 June 2016 – via bjsm.bmj.com.
- ↑ Schweitzer, Albert: À l'Orée de la Forêt Vierge, récits et réflexions d'un médecin en Afrique équatoriale française, Albin Michel, France 1952
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Jean-Pierre de Mondenard (2000). Dopage : L'imposture des performances. Wilmette, Ill: Chiron. ISBN 2-7027-0639-8.
- ↑ Grajewski, Tadeusw: The Building That Would Not Go Away, Royal Agriciultural Hall, UK, 1989
- 1 2 Woodland, Les: This Island Race, Mousehold Press, UK, 2005
- ↑ Novich, Max M., Abbotempo, UK, 1964
- ↑ Bearings, US, 24 December 1896, cited Ritchie, Andrew, Major Taylor, Bicycle Books, US, 1988
- ↑ New York Times, US, 1897, cited McCullagh, James, American Bicycle Racing, Rodale Press, U.S., 1976
- ↑ Novich, ibid. Cited De Mondenard, Dr Jean-Pierre: Dopage, l'imposture des performances, Chiron, France, 2000
- ↑ Hoberman, John; Dopers on Wheels: The Tour's sorry history, www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19462071/ retrieved December 2007
- ↑ Parienté, R; Lagorce, G (1973). La Fabuleuse Histoire des Jeux Olympiques. France: ODIL. ISBN 2-8307-0583-1.
- ↑ Lunzenfichter, Alain (10 December 2007). "C'est pas du Jeu!". L'Équipe. France.
- ↑ Woodland, Les (1980). Dope, the use of drugs in Sport. UK: David and Charles. ISBN 0-7153-7894-5.
- ↑ Goldman, Robert; Ronald Klatz (1992). Death in the locker room: drugs & sports (2nd ed.). Elite Sports Medicine Publications. p. 24. ISBN 9780963145109.
- ↑ Connor, James; Woolf, Jules; Mazanov, Jason (January 2013). "Would they dope? Revisiting the Goldman dilemma" (PDF). British Journal of Sports Medicine. 47 (11): 697–700. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2012-091826. PMID 23343717. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
- ↑ Connor, James; Jason Mazanov (2009). "Would you dope? A general population test of the Goldman dilemma.". British Journal of Sports Medicine. 43 (11): 871–872. doi:10.1136/bjsm.2009.057596. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
- ↑ Deventer, K; Roels, K; Delbeke, FT; Van Eenoo, P (August 2011). "Prevalence of legal and illegal stimulating agents in sports.". Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry. 401 (2): 421–32. doi:10.1007/s00216-011-4863-0. PMID 21479548.
- ↑ http://www.usada.org/wp-content/uploads/wada-2016-prohibited-list-en.pdf
- ↑ Doping of athletes, a European survey, Council of Europe, France, 1964
- ↑ Grant, D.N.W.; Air Force, UK, 1944
- 1 2 Gabbert, Michael: How we uncovered the Everton drug scandal, The People, UK, 13 September 1964
- ↑ Brera, G. Le Géant et la Lime (French title), Ed. Campagnolo, Italy, 1995, cited De Mondenard
- ↑ Van Dijk, Pieter: Doping bestaat en doen we eraan, Het Vrije Volk, Holland, 13 December 1961
- ↑ Cited by fellow professional Tony Hewson in Journal, Fellowship of Cycling Old Timers, 158/72
- ↑ Huyskens, P: Daar was 't, een biografie van Kees Pellenaars, Netherlands,1973
- ↑ Kanayama G, Hudson JI, Pope HG (November 2008). "Long-term psychiatric and medical consequences of anabolic-androgenic steroid abuse: A looming public health concern?". Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 98 (1–2): 1–12. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2008.05.004. PMC 2646607. PMID 18599224.
- ↑ Laure, P.: Les répresentations du dopage; approche psycho-sociologique, Thèse STAPS, Nancy, France, 1994
- ↑ Yesalis CE, Anderson WA, Buckley WE, Wright JE (1990). "Incidence of the nonmedical use of anabolic-androgenic steroids" (PDF). NIDA research monograph. 102: 97–112. PMID 2079979.
- ↑ Fair JD (1993). "Isometrics or Steroids? Exploring New Frontiers Of Strength in the Early 1960s" (PDF). Journal of Sport History. 20 (1).
- ↑ Peters, Mary: Mary P, Arrow Books, UK, 1976
- ↑ "USATF – Hall of Fame". www.usatf.org. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
- ↑ Steve Theunissen: Arnold & Steroids: Truth Revealed 2002 Archived 14 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ "http://www.fitnessprat.no/archive/index.php/t-332.html". Archived from the original on 8 February 2009. Retrieved 9 June 2016. External link in
(help) - ↑ "Cutaneous Manifestations of Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Use in Athletes". International Journal of Dermatology. 48 (10): 1044–1048. 2009. doi:10.1111/j.1365-4632.2009.04139.x. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
- ↑ 1988 Summer Olympics
- ↑ "Carl Lewis | biography – American athlete". Retrieved 16 July 2015.
- ↑ Mackay, Duncan (24 April 2003). "Lewis: 'Who cares I failed drug test?'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
- ↑ "http://www.hinduonnet.com/tss/tss2618/stories/20030503002206000.htm". Retrieved 9 June 2016. External link in
(help) - 1 2 Sport Information Dienst, W Germany, December 1978
- ↑ Costelle D, Berlioux M, Histoires des Jeux Olympiques, Larousse, France, 1980
- ↑ Cited Woodland, Les: Dope, the use of drugs in sport, David and Charles, UK, 1980
- ↑ Le Figaro, France, 19 January 1989
- ↑ "Sports Doping Statistics Reach Plateau in Germany". Deutsche Welle. 26 February 2003. Retrieved 4 August 2007.
- ↑ Pain And Injury in Sport: Social And Ethical Analysis, Section III, Chapter 7, Page 111, by Sigmund Loland, Berit Skirstad, Ivan Waddington, Published by Routledge in 2006, ASIN: B000OI0HZG
- ↑ "Dynamo Liste (in German)". email@example.com. September 2002. Retrieved 10 March 2008.
- ↑ "Dynamo Liste: Die Täter (in German)". email@example.com. September 2002. Retrieved 11 March 2008.
- ↑ "Jenapharm says drugs were legal". ESPN. 28 April 2005. Retrieved 11 March 2008.
- ↑ "Obituary: Manfred Ewald". The Independent. 25 October 2002. Retrieved 11 March 2008.
- 1 2 "GDR athletes sue over steroid damage". BBC News Europe. 13 March 2005. Retrieved 11 March 2008.
- ↑ "New doping charges against East German doctors". BBC News. 25 November 1997. Retrieved 7 March 2008.
- ↑ "East German coaches fined over doping". BBC News. 31 August 1998. Retrieved 11 March 2008.
- ↑ "Doping of underage athletes in the former GDR (in German)". Schwimmverein Limmat Zürich. 23 March 2000. Retrieved 10 March 2008.
- ↑ "Drug claim could be a bitter pill". Times Online. 2 March 2005. Retrieved 13 March 2008.
- ↑ "Accredited Laboratories". World Anti-Doping Agency. January 2004. Retrieved 13 March 2008.
- ↑ Harding, Luke (1 November 2005). "Forgotten victims of East German doping take their battle to court". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 11 March 2008.
- ↑ "Drugs update". Sports Publications. July 1998. Retrieved 11 March 2008.
- ↑ "1977: Here comes Mr. Doping". European Cup – Milan 2007. 2007. Retrieved 11 March 2008.
- ↑ Longman, Jere (25 October 1998). "OLYMPICS; U.S. Seeks Redress for 1976 Doping In Olympics". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 March 2008.
- ↑ "Despite Doping, Olympic Medals Stand". International Herald Tribune. 16 December 1998. Archived from the original on 26 October 2008. Retrieved 12 March 2008.
- ↑ "Fifa's Approach to Doping in Football". July 2006. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
- ↑ Dvorak, J.; Graf-Bauman, T.; D'Hooghe, M.; Kirkendall, D.; Taennler, H.; Saugy, M. (July 2006). "FIFA's approach to doping in football". British Journal of Sports Medicine. 40 Suppl 1: i3–i12. doi:10.1136/bjsm.2006.027383. PMC 2657497. PMID 16799099.
- ↑ (French) Anti-dopage. Dvorak : "Le profil biologique, une approche complètement nouvelle", fifa.com (page visited on 11 June 2014).
- 1 2 Rosen, Daniel. Dope: A History of Performance Enhancement in Sports from the Nineteenth Century to Today.
- ↑ Wilson, Wayne (2000). Doping in Elite Sport: The Politics of Drugs in the Olympic Mvnt: The Politics of Drugs in the Olympic Movement. Human Kinetics.
- ↑ "Full Body Swimsuit Now Banned for Professional Swimmers". Retrieved 1 March 2012.
- ↑ "Doping In Professional Sports – CrimeWire". Retrieved 15 July 2015.
- ↑ Londres, Albert: Les frères Pélissier et leur camarade Ville abandonnent, Le Petit Parisien, 27 June 2014, France
- ↑ Woodland, Les: Yellow Jersey Guide to the Tour de France, Yellow Jersey, London, 2007
- ↑ Maso, Benji:Zweet van de Goden, Holland
- ↑ Macur, Juliet (2006-08-05). "Backup Sample on Landis Is Positive". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
- ↑ "Backup Sample on Landis Is Positive". Velonews. 2007-09-20.
- ↑ Osei-Hwere, E.M.; Armfield, G.G.; Kinsky, E.S.; Drumheller, K. (1 January 2014). "Ethical implications of Lance Armstrong's performance-enhancing drug case". Journal of Legal, Ethical, Regulatory Issues.
- ↑ Dilger, A.; Frick, B.; Tolsdorf, F. (October 2007). "Are athletes doped? Some theoretical arguments and empirical evidence". Contemporary Economic Policy. 25: 604–615. doi:10.1111/j.1465-7287.2007.00076.x.
- ↑ "Lance Armstrong Doping Accusation". Washington Post. 23 October 2012. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
- ↑ "Lance Armstrong". CBS News. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
- ↑ "www.cyclingnews.com - the world centre of cycling". Retrieved 9 June 2016.
- 1 2 3 Michael Powers, "Performance-Enhancing Drugs" in Joel Houglum, in Gary L. Harrelson, Deidre Leaver-Dunn, "Principles of Pharmacology for Athletic Trainers", SLACK Incorporated, 2005, ISBN 1-55642-594-5, p. 330
- ↑ "Anabolic steroid misuse – NHS Choices". www.nhs.uk. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
- ↑ "IAAF: A Piece of Anti-Doping History: IAAF Handbook 1927–1928 | iaaf.org". iaaf.org. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
- ↑ "The Tribune – Magazine section – Saturday Extra". www.tribuneindia.com. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
- ↑ "What we do". World Anti-Doping Agency. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
- ↑ Ph.D, David E. Newton (26 November 2013). Steroids and Doping in Sports: A Reference Handbook: A Reference Handbook. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781610693141.
- ↑ "What Performance Enhancing Drugs Have Been or Are Banned Olympics? - Drug Use in Sports - ProCon.org". sportsanddrugs.procon.org. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
- ↑ Adcouncil.org, Ad Council, 8 August 2008
- ↑ NPR, 10 October 2012
- ↑ https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/101/s1829. Retrieved 15 July 2015. Missing or empty
(help) - ↑ O'Leary, John (2001). Drugs and Doping in Sports – Socio-Legal Perspectives. Cavendish Publishing. ISBN 1-85941-662-4.
- ↑ "WADA Clarifies B-Sample Procedure". WADA.com. 22 November 2006. Archived from the original on 6 January 2007. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
- ↑ "Ressources" (PDF). Retrieved 9 June 2016.
- ↑ "IOC to apply today's drug testing standards to 2006 Olympic samples". CBC Sports. 20 March 2013. Retrieved 21 March 2009.
- ↑ Berry, D.A. (2008-08-07). "The science of doping". Nature. 454 (7205): 692–3. doi:10.1038/454692a. PMID 18685682.(subscription required)
- 1 2 Nature editors (2008-08-07). "A level playing field?". Nature. 454 (7205): 667. doi:10.1038/454667a. PMID 18685647.
- ↑ "Steroids for Everyone!". WIRED. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
- ↑ "http://www.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/latest_news/2013/?a=28410". Retrieved 9 June 2016. External link in
(help) - ↑ Engel, Jen Floyd. "Engel: Enough with the fake steroid outrage". Retrieved 9 June 2016.
- ↑ Cashmore, Ellis (February 24, 2006). "The Olympics Meets the War on Drugs". StoptheDrugWar.org. The Drug Reform Coordination Network. Retrieved October 26, 2016.
- ↑ "Congress to review blocked doping suspensions". 8 October 2009. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
- ↑ Belson, Ken (4 November 2009). "N.F.L. Seeks Congressional Help on Drug Policy". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
- ↑ Magraken, Erik (9 March 2013). "Legal Ramifications for Using PEDs in MMA?". TopMMANews.com. Retrieved 9 March 2013.
- ↑ "Therapeutic Use Exemptions". World Anti-Doping Agency.
Further reading
- Franke WW, Berendonk B (July 1997). "Hormonal doping and androgenization of athletes: a secret program of the German Democratic Republic government". Clinical Chemistry. 43 (7): 1262–79. PMID 9216474.
- Mottram, David (2005); Drugs in Sport, Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-37564-1.
- Murray, Thomas H. (2008); "Sports Enhancement", in From Birth to Death and Bench to Clinic: The Hastings Center Bioethics Briefing Book for Journalists, Policymakers, and Campaigns.
- Waddington and Smith (2008); An Introduction to Drugs in Sport, Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-43125-5.
- Sports Doping: From the Laboratory to the Playing Field. Radio and
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to doping. |
- Anti-Doping Sciences Institute
- Banned Substances Control Group
- World Anti-Doping Agency
- Anti-Doping at the International Association of Athletics Federations


text:
In 1888, the local Conference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society established a small mission chapel near the corner of Blair and Virginia in St. Paul, Minnesota. This was the beginning of St. Vincent's Parish in the life story of the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
The 125 predominantly Irish families who worshiped in St. Vincent's Chapel were the nucleus of what was to become a vital center of St. Paul's "Frogtown" area. Priests from St. Luke's Parish served the small community. The very year of its founding was the year in which Pope Leo XIII, recognizing the growing importance of St. Paul as a Catholic center in the midwest, granted the diocese metropolitan rank and appointed John Ireland as its first archbishop.
The story of St. Vincent de Paul Parish is a story of growth through hard work and sacrifice. Father Raleigh from nearby St. Joseph's Parish offered the first Mass in the newly constructed chapel.
Every Sunday the Reverend (later Bishop) John J. Lawler offered Mass in the St. Vincent's Chapel, thus distinguishing him as St. Vincent's first pastor, although his pastorate lasted scarcely a year.
In October of 1889 the first St. Vincent's Rectory was ready for occupancy. Archbishop Ireland appointed a young Irish Priest, the Reverend Laurence Cosgrove, to be St. Vincent's first resident pastor. His pastorate of twenty years was marked by great material and spiritual growth in the parish.
Father Cosgrove himself became somewhat of a legend. He was a man of great zeal, energy, and foresight. In addition to being pastor of St. Vincent's, he served as chaplain of Calvary Cemetery, chaplain of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, chaplain of the State Order of Foresters, and first pastor of St. Andrew's Parish, which was founded in 1889 as a mission of St. Vincent's. Father Cosgrove, a scholarly man in literary gifts, in his rare quiet moments wrote and had published a small hardbound volume entitled "A Popular History of St. Vincent's Church." In beautifully flowing prose, he records and describes with a wealth of detail.
On May 7, 1898 was the formal dedication by Archbishop Ireland of the newly erected St. Vincent de Paul Church. Father Cosgrove wrote, "In 1897 it was found that around the handful of people that eight years before had assembled in a tiny mission chapel there had grown up a large and flourishing congregation for which the church was entirely insufficient."
On November 1, 1900 ground was broken for St. Vincent's School. In July 1901, St. Vincent's School, staffed by four Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, opened with an enrollment of 190 children.
On September 8, 1902 was the dedication of St. Vincent's School, "an imposing structure three stories high, [standing] in spacious grounds, large enough, after providing ample playground for the children, to afford an enclosed park prettily laid out in greensward and flower beds eight classrooms with a seating capacity of 500, an ornamental fountain in the middle of the playground." Thus Father Cosgrove described the school, the building of which was to him a dream come to reality. The Reverend Patrick O'Brien, the speaker on the occasion of the school's dedication, praised Father Cosgrove for being "a true priest of God." He added, "I would say there ought to be said of him, 'If you want his monument, look around you.'" Father O'Brien made it clear that he referred not only to material buildings, but also to the evidence of spiritual growth: "The new school is his testimony in stone; his latest converts, his testimony in the flesh."
Father Cosgrove's pastorate established the groundwork upon which St. Vincent's was built He was followed by the Reverend William Walsh, who served as pastor for two years. Then in 1912 Archbishop Ireland appointed the Reverend Timothy E. Crowley to St. Vincent's. During Father Crowley's ten years at St. Vincent's an addition to the rectory was constructed, and extensive rebuilding of the school became an urgent necessity after a very destructive fire. In September 1922, Father Crowley was appointed to be the first Rector of Nazareth Hall Preparatory Seminary. Here in his work with future priests he frequently drew upon his fund of knowledge and experience gained during his years as pastor of St. Vincent's parish.
In 1922 Archbishop Austin Dowling appointed to St. Vincent's Parish a priest of outstanding personal qualities and of wide experience. The Reverend Martin I. J. Griffin had been & parish assistant, Workhouse Chaplain, secretary to Archbishop Ireland, Treasurer of St. Thomas College, and pastor of St. Cecilia's Parish before his appointment to St. Vincent's. St. Vincent's then numbered 815 families, all of moderate means. The school, staffed by eight Sisters, had an enrollment of 365 students. Gertude Kammerer, an eighth grade student at the time, listed the "considerable improvements" made under the direction of Father Griffin when she wrote, "The auditorium in the basement of the church had been completed from new dishes to new walls. In addition to these were new cabinets, a new sink, kitchen utensils, lighting system, heating system and thirty-two folding tables, which were made by the men of the parish." She went on to exclaim,"The results were simply miraculous. Now we are not ashamed to have even the Pope visit our auditorium."
In 1940 Father Griffin accepted an assignment to St. Stephen's Parish in Minneapolis. Here he spent the last five years of his life. Father Griffin was succeeded at St. Vincent's by the Reverend Peter F. During Father Meade's pastorate the "Daily Adoration Society of St. Vincnet's Parish" was established. From June 1943 through June 1951 the Blessed Sacrament was was exposed for daily adoration from 9 a.m. until Benediction at 7:30 p.m.
The Reverend Thomas G. Exley came as administrator to St. Vincent's in June of 1951. People delight in recalling his seemingly unlimited physical energy and his unusual organizational ability. During his brief stay of scarcely a year, he worked with the men of the parish to completely redecorate the church. Part of that project was the installation of the present altar and Communion rail. Father Exley was then determined to direct his energies toward improving the school. The work had just gotten underway when Archbishop Murray asked him to leave his many new friends at St. Vincent's in order to become pastor of St. Peter's Parish in Canby, Minnesota.
The Reverend Charles H. Morgan, appointed pastor of St. Vincent's in 1952, proved himself to be very capable of carrying on the work begun by Father Exley. He and a group of hard working, dedicated men of the parish completely redecorated the school. He also managed to find the means to install glass-brick windows and to provide modern plastic-top desks in all the classrooms. The exterior of the church also required considerable renovation. Father Morgan, after having consulted with architects, labored over plans for the new church-front exterior entrance, and vestibule.
From the beginning St. Vincent's had been a parish of working people. Funds were never abundant. After years of patiently saving a bit here and a bit here, Father Morgan was also able to fulfill his dream of replacing the stations in St. Vincent's Church with a beautifully hand-carved set. He invited a former member of the parish, Monsignor George E. Ryan, then rector of the Cathedral of St. Paul, to erect the new stations on December 22, 1957.
Father Morgan is remembered for his kind, soft-spoken manner and for his obvious enjoyment of the companionship of his people. They looked forward to reading his fine phrases in each Sunday's parish bulletin, for they knew these words expressed his complete sincerity.
A critical illness, soon to cause his death, gradually incapacitated Father Morgan, The 75th anniversary of the founding of St. Vincent's Parish passed by with little notice. No one had any desire to celebrate the diamond jubilee when the pastor was so seriously ill.
After Father Morgan's death in September of 1963, Archbishop Binz requested Reverend Michael P. Fay, then pastor of St. Thomas Parish near LeCentre, Minnesota, to assume the pastorate of St. Vincent's. As a young seminarian, Father Fay had come to the United States from County Mayo, Ireland. Thus in the rapidly changing world of the 1960's, he came to continue the tradition of St. Vincent's Irish pastors, begun back in 1888 by Father Laurence Cosgrove, first resident pastor of the parish.
While Father Fay was pastor, Father Lea White, an assistant at the time, was asked to direct and supervise the painting of the exterior trim of the church. This was done by men of the parish themselves even including the cross high on the steeple of the church using a boom truck. This work was competed in 1973.
Father William Gamber, who served in the U. S. Navy, and afterwards entered the priesthood, was appointed pastor in 1975. The interior of the rectory was repainted under his direction, again with the help of men from the parish. Minor roof repairs to the church were also done during his pastorate.
In June of 1979, the long tradition of Irish pastors was broken with the appointment of Reverend Bernard C. Klein, who was of Austrian and German decent.
[Historical information from 1979 to 2012 is currently being compiled.]

subset: commoncrawl


text: Character Analysis The Intended Kurtz's fiancée is marked — like the Harlequin — by her absolute devotion to Kurtz. When Marlow visits her after his return from Africa, he finds that she has been dressed in mourning for more than a year and still yearns for information about how her love spent his last days. However, she is actually devoted to an image of Kurtz instead of the man himself: She praises Kurtz's "words" and "example," assuming that these are filled with the nobility of purpose with which Kurtz began his career with the Company. Her devotion is so absolute that Marlow cannot bear to tell her Kurtz's real last words ("The horror! The horror!") and must instead tell her a lie that strengthens her already false impression of Kurtz. On a symbolic level, the Intended is like many Europeans, who wish to believe in the greatness of men like Kurtz without considering the more "dark" and hidden parts of their characters. Like European missionaries, for example, who sometimes hurt the very people they were professing to save, the Intended is a misguided soul whose belief in Marlow's lie reveals her need to cling to a fantasy-version of the what the Europeans (i.e., the Company) are doing in Africa.


text:
NOGALES, Ariz. – NOGALES, Ariz. (AP) — The fence rises from the rock and hardscrabble of the desert floor, a formidable 15-foot-high curtain of corrugated metal that stretches into the mirage of heat and distance. Newer sections feature 20-foot high steel columns, deeply planted, narrowly spaced, so no human slips between.
The start-and-stop span — 646 miles long — has become a fierce polemic, a bumper sticker, a popular backdrop for campaign commercials during an election year with another sulfurous immigration debate.
The best known TV spot features Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain kicking along a dusty road in this hilly border city, fuming to his companion, the Pinal County sheriff, about drugs and immigrant smugglers and kidnappings. Wearing his Navy baseball cap and squinting into the sun, McCain could be rounding the corner to the gunfight at the OK Corral.
"Complete the danged fence," he spits, his jaw drawing into a knot.
The government has spent $2.4 billion since 2005 to build the fence as it presently stands. And the prevailing political sentiment would appear to be, build it faster and higher.
But what McCain and other politicians often fail to point out is there's no shortage of ways to get past the fence. Immigrants scale it with ladders. Smugglers use blowtorches and hacksaws to penetrate it. They use trucks with retractable vehicle ramps to roll pickups full of marijuana over the fence. They knock down vehicle barriers and erect lookalikes that are made out of cardboard and easy to move.
When backed up by border agents and surveillance technology, the fence can help reduce immigrant traffic or redirect it to other locales. But even some advocates for tougher enforcement say it's unclear whether the fence cuts the overall number of illegal crossings.
"The whole point of the fence is to work in concert with other things, but, by itself, you can't expect it to be the end-all and be-all," said Steven Camarota, research director for the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for strict immigration laws.
An estimated 45 percent of America's 12 million illegal immigrants came here legally on various visas or border crossing cards and remained after their legal stays expired. The fence couldn't have stopped that. And the fence doesn't directly confront employers who fuel illicit crossings by hiring illegal immigrants.
Even so, at least one candidate in nearly all of Arizona's top political races, including McCain's, touts the fence as essential, or uses images of the barrier in campaign materials.
The fence covers about 30 percent of the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, about one-third the length of the Great Wall of China. Nearly half of the fence sits in Arizona, the busiest gateway for both illegal immigrants and marijuana, with the rest equally divided in California, New Mexico and Texas. The government plans to build 6 more miles of fence by year's end.
The Border Patrol declined to say how many times it has recorded fence breaches, but a government audit released last year reported thousands. Each breach costs an average of $1,300 to repair. On top of the price tag for building the fence, it will cost another $6.5 billion over the next 20 years to maintain it and related equipment.
Politicians focus on the fence, advocates from both sides of the debate say, because of its symbolic value. It allows voters to envision the government's security efforts, and it's a shield against the violence on the Mexican side.
The focus on the fence by political campaigns appears to be isolated mostly to Arizona, where a law set to take effect July 29 will order police to question anyone they suspect of being in the country illegally.
A gubernatorial candidate in New Mexico also used the fence as a backdrop in a campaign video. And just a day after entering Washington state's Senate race against powerful Democrat Patty Murray, Republican Dino Rossi said Thursday he wants to see a "tall fence with a high gate" for those who look to enter the U.S. illegally.
In Arizona, support for fence-building or images of the barrier can be found on the websites and campaign literature of at least one candidate in six of the state's eight congressional races, the U.S. Senate contest and races for governor and attorney general.
Ben Quayle, a Republican candidate for an open congressional seat and son of former Vice President Dan Quayle, calls for building a continuous border fence as part of a broader strategy. One of Quayle's competitors in the Republican primary, Ed Winkler, wrote an essay about his recent trip to the border and posted four photos of himself standing near the fence.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva said on his campaign website that the country's immigration woes won't be solved by building the fence and sending troops, but rather by a comprehensive immigration overhaul.
Border Patrol spokesman Lloyd Easterling said the fence represent one of several tools used in reducing the number of immigrant arrests by more than 50 percent over the last five years. Other factors include 8,000 new Border Patrol agents, more technology and America's economic downturn.
President Barack Obama on Tuesday promised to send 1,200 Guard troops to the border to support efforts to block drug trafficking and temporarily supplement Border Patrol agents until more agents can be trained. McCain says more are needed — he tried unsuccessfully Thursday to get 6,000 more troops — arguing that the security situation along the border has deteriorated so badly that 3,000 guard troops are needed just to help protect his state.
In Nogales, the shoe stores, duty-free shops and other downtown businesses are just yards from the corrugated barricade, which has welding scars where breaches have been patched.
Forty border tunnels have been discovered in Nogales since the mid-1990s.
Surveillance cameras, sensors and trailers carrying stadium lights help Border Patrol agents who monitor the fence. Deeper into Nogales, layers of agents are placed to try to stop immigrants who slip past the border.
Mayor Octavio Garcia-von Borstel said the fence is essential to maintaining the quality of life in his city of 24,000. "With no fence, they would be free (to run through)," he said.
More than 100 miles away in the southeastern Arizona city of Douglas, Mayor Michael Gomez said the fence "is not going to work. They jump right over it."
But he believes there aren't enough Border Patrol agents there to back up the fence. At night, ultralight planes used by drug smugglers buzz right over.
Immigrant rights advocates say the fence prompts migrants to cross in remote areas where they face dangerous, often deadly obstacles on their way to a better life.
"It's a very big problem," said Walter Ewing, a senior researcher for the pro-immigrant Immigration Policy Center. "It won't be fixed by fences. It centers around economics."
Associated Press Writer Rachel La Corte contributed to this story from Seattle.


text:
Japan sends Hello Kitty into space
By Minami Funakoshi
(Reuters) - Hello Kitty, Japan's ambassador of cute, is on a government-funded mission to space.
The project to launch Sanrio Co Ltd's white cat with a pink bow into orbit is part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to promote Japan's high-tech industry and engineer economic growth.
A 4-cm (1.6-inch) tall Hello Kitty figure is aboard the Hodoyoshi-3 satellite, looking through a window at Earth, Sanrio announced this week.
The satellite, which is about the size of a large rubbish bin, was developed by Japanese researchers as part of a $40 million program funded by the education and science ministry.
The goal of the project is to get more private companies interested in working with satellites, said Toshiki Tanaka, researcher in charge of the project at the University of Tokyo's Nano-Satellite Center.
Developers chose Sanrio as their first private partner after judging that it could get Hello Kitty's many fans interested in space, Tanaka said.
"Through this project we can make those people interested and stimulate their scientific curiosity. We can move their hearts," Tanaka told Reuters.
The Hello Kitty project, which launched in June, has been one of trial and error for the Tokyo-based satellite developers.
The researchers have been working on maneuvering the satellite so it would point in the right direction when taking photos of Hello Kitty with Earth as a backdrop for the past two months. They also used special paint to coat the Hello Kitty mascot to protect it from UV rays, cosmic rays and vacuum space.
Sanrio has asked fans to submit 180-character messages that Hello Kitty could deliver from space to friends and family. Sanrio received 100 submissions in the first day, said Kazuo Tohmatsu, the company's spokesman.
Hello Kitty, celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, is Sanrio's most popular character. The mouthless cat has become a symbol of Japan's culture of "kawaii," or cute, and is used to market everything from plush toys to aircraft.
More AOL Content:
Before the big game, city clears out its homeless
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text:
Advertisement |
Ernie Kovacs (January 23, 1919 – January 13, 1962) was an American comedian whose uninhibited, often ad-libbed, and visually experimental comedic style came to influence numerous television comedy programs for years after his death in an automobile accident. Such iconic and diverse shows as Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, Monty Python's Flying Circus, The Uncle Floyd Show, Saturday Night Live Captain Kangaroo, Sesame Street, The Electric Company, and TV hosts such as David Letterman and Craig Ferguson have been influenced by Kovacs. Chevy Chase acknowledged Kovacs' influence on his work in Saturday Night Live, thanking him during his acceptance speech for his Emmy award for SNL. Chase appeared in the 1982 documentary called Ernie Kovacs: Television's Original Genius, speaking again of the impact Kovacs had on his work.
On or off screen, Kovacs could be counted on for the unexpected - from having marmosets as pets, to wrestling a jaguar on his live Philadelphia television show. When working at WABC (AM) as a morning drive radio personality and doing a mid-morning television show for NBC, Kovacs disliked eating breakfast alone while his wife was sleeping in after her Broadway performances. His solution was to hire a taxi driver to come into their apartment with his own key and whose job was to make breakfast for them both, then take him to the WABC studios.
While Ernie and his wife Edie Adams received Emmy nominations for best performances in a comedy series in 1957, Kovacs' talent was not formally recognized until after his death. The 1962 Emmy for outstanding electronic camera work and the Directors' Guild award came a short time after his fatal accident. A quarter century later, he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame. Kovacs also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in television. In 1986, the Museum of Television & Radio (now the Paley Center for Media) presented an exhibit of Kovacs' work, called The Vision of Ernie Kovacs. The Pulitzer Prize winning television critic, William Henry III wrote for the museum's booklet:


text:
Imaging Solutions is a healthcare imaging equipment products and consumables supplier. Our critical point of difference is our "single source supplier" philosophy which allows us to offer unmatched convenience and value for money to all our customers. Imaging Solutions offers an extensive range of world-market-leading, first quality, high performance products which assist our customers in delivering outstanding radiographic diagnostic quality first time, every time.
No products in the Quote Basket.


text:
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- A top Taliban leader in Pakistan is buying and selling children for suicide bombings, Pakistani and U.S. officials said.
Children are shown at a training camp in this video footage shot by the Taliban.
Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud has been increasingly using the children in attacks, the officials said. A video released by Pakistan's military shows the children training for the task.
In the video of a training camp, children can be seen going through exercises.
Mehsud has been selling the children, once trained, to other Taliban officials for $6,000 to $12,000, Pakistani military officials said. Watch more about the child bombers »
Some of the children are as young as 11, the officials said.
"He has been admitting he holds a training center for young boys, for preparing them for suicide bombing. So he is on record saying all this, accepting these crimes," said Major General Akhtar Abbas, spokesman for the Pakistani army.
The young suicide bombers may be able to reach targets unnoticed, the military said.
"If he is approaching on foot, there is a possibility he will bypass security," Abbas said.
"In certain areas, there is a possibility in the population centers everyone can not be checked physically, so he can create havoc there."
Pakistan has launched an offensive against the Taliban, started in the Swat region of the North West Frontier Province. The Taliban have countered with a spate of suicide bombings, including a July 2 attack in Rawalpindi, in which a suicide bomber on a motorcycle struck a Pakistani Defense Ministry bus. At least one person was killed and 29 others were wounded.
Pakistan's army said it is hunting Mehsud in the hopes that the supply of suicide bombers will dry up after the Taliban leader is captured.
Meanwhile, a suspected U.S. drone attack killed at least 12 people and wounded five others in northwest Pakistan Tuesday, Pakistani officials said.
The missile strikes in South Waziristan targeted a suspected Taliban hideout at a madrassa, or Muslim school, in Zangarah, according to intelligence officials.
The attack near the border with Afghanistan involved a pair of missiles shot from an unmanned drone, local resident Janbaz Mehsud told CNN. He said all the dead and wounded were Taliban.
A local government official, who asked not to be named, said the madrassa was a training center for the Taliban and belongs to Baitullah Mehsud. That official put the death toll at 14, but said the number of dead could rise.
The U.S. military routinely offers no comment on reported drone attacks. However, the United States is the only country operating in the region known to have the ability to launch missiles from drones, which are controlled remotely.
All About Taliban Movement of Pakistan • Baitullah Mehsud


text: > As to clustering... Latency would be a "bit" of a problem. PDP-8s only support > serial and synchronous "networks". 9600 baud won't quite make it as a high > performance cluster infrastructure ;-) > > PDP-11s do have 10Base Ethernet. But running TCP/IP on a PDP-11 is incredibly > slow (even if running BSD Unix). It take just about everything the processor > has just to push the packets out. So one could create a true ethernet cluster > infrastructure - but there wouldn't be much processor power left over to do > calculations. > > So as much as I love these old beasties, they just don't make great clusters, > sigh... > > On the other hand, VAXes just might :-) "Great" as in the meaning of "not great at all"? The real question is how many kiloVAXes it would take to equal the ONE laptop I'm typing this reply on... Moore's law is cruel, alas. OTOH, if we ignore trying to build an antique cluster for WORK and focus on doing it for FUN, a 10-system PDP-1 cluster with 9600 baud serial connections becomes a simply smashing idea... although finding ones with all their bits intact is perhaps a bit of a problem. rgb > > Cheers, > Lyle > -- Robert G. Brown Phone(cell): 1-919-280-8443 Duke University Physics Dept, Box 90305 Durham, N.C. 27708-0305 Web: http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb Book of Lilith Website: http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/Lilith/Lilith.php Lulu Bookstore: http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=877977


text:
Rihanna Suing Retailer Topshop for $5 Million for Selling a T-Shirt With Her Face On It [PHOTO]
Rihanna is in the midst of a lawsuit with UK clothing retail giant Topshop, which has been using RiRi's face on its shirts without her consent -- and she wants $5 million for the breach.
A source for the New York Post said Ri's team tried to settle the matter outside of court for eight months but that the clothing company "offered her $5,000 and said they don't care."
"Rihanna's management asked Topshop a number of times to stop selling her image and were told, 'We do what we want.' They buy the pictures from a photographer, but they do not pay the artist licensing fees," the insider said.
"Unfortunately, UK law does not protect the artist. Topshop is now in the United States. They set up in Manhattan and Nordstrom, but they know better than to do this in the US because they would get in trouble."
Rih's already spent $1 million of her own money on litigation, and even though UK laws aren't in her favor, she still plans to fight. The Post's source said she's mostly upset because she was basically given a giant corporate finger rather than anyone trying to work with her fairly.
"She says it's the principle, and wants to make a statement about it," the tattletale divulged. "They are taking advantage of artists. It is just exploitation. What they are doing is wrong."


text:
This is guest contribution from Michael Kuhlmann.
Would you like to increase your readership? How about boosting downloads for your latest white paper or newly-launched digital product?
The secret to success sometimes lies in the obvious.
While you may have placed a sign-up field for your newsletter or added a new product to your e-commerce site, your job as a content marketer doesn't end there. You need a CTA, a call-to-action!
The easiest way to start is by answering the "why" question. Why should somebody subscribe to your blog? Or, why should I buy this new product? The answer can be anything from "Buy 1, Get 2 Free!" to "Sign up today and never miss another post!"
Finish the race
When you're ramping up a marketing campaign through an email, landing page or any other asset, it's easy to get lost in the offer and messaging. You'll talk about all the amazing things your customers will want and maybe even include a bulleted list of why your goods and/or services are so awesome. You might even throw in the "time-limited offer" verbiage to incentivise your customers.
After you add your button that reads "click here" somewhere in your content, you might be inclined to call it day. Don't! You'll just have wasted a lot of time and effort on what's, really, your first draft.
Let's backtrack a little.
Every form of communication with your customer should begin and/or end with a call to action. While it's easy to point out the importance this carries over your marketing efforts, it's best explained through an example. Consider the following marketing copy for an email:
Unilever announced it will sell a new body spray this December called Squirrel-Off, which is intended to repel food-begging squirrels.
Call to action: Example A
Ward off those pesky squirrels this holiday season with Squirrel-Off!
Call to action: Example B
Keep squirrels away this holiday season with Squirrel-Off, the amazing scented body spray that protects you from those unwanted critters.
Example A sounds abrupt, lacks any type of interaction with the reader and isn't warm or fuzzy. Example B, on the other hand, is more descriptive and increases the click-through rate (CTR) by linking the bolded call to action in addition to the advertised product.
Split testing your call to action
To calculate the effectiveness of the marketing copy with and without a call to action, we can refer to what's called an A/B split-test.
A lot of email service providers (ESPs) have a built-in functionality to measure this, but for the sake of keeping things simple, let's assume we have a database of 200 contacts. If we also assume that our ESP is fairly basic without a simple or automated A/B split-testing functionality, then we can halve our contacts and send them the marketing copy with the contents from Example A and the other 100 people receive the contents from Example B. The CTR from the latter email should yield higher.
Calculating the effectiveness of CTAs doesn't hinge solely on the email copy nor on the medium in which you use it, and it doesn't have to be time-consuming or complicated.
For example, if you're not too keen on fiddling with Google Analytics and have a fair marketing budget, you can use Optimize.ly or Visual Website Optimizer on your landing pages. You can perform split-tests on your hero shot and call to action buttons, as well.
Does a red pill button outperform a blue pill button? How about button with a chevron or triangle? The possibilities to what you can measure are endless, but the common denominator will always be your content, your call to action.
To hone down on your CTA, you'll want to answer five questions.
1. Does your first sentence grab your attention enough to continue reading?
An easy way to figure this out is to think of your favourite product or service and substitute it for the actual product or service you're promoting. If you're thinking, "Sure, this sentence is still good enough" stop right there and revise it, because your first sentence needs to be excellent!
When it's excellent, the road is paved for your customers to keep reading your content, which will increase the chances for them to perform an action – starting a trial, getting a discount, downloading a document, etc.
2. Do you have emphatic CTAs sprinkled throughout your content?
If you think your call to actions might be a bit weak and you're worried about making them sound too "sales-y", don't worry. Make them sound "sales-y". Obviously, you don't want every sentence to have a link pointing to your product or service, but your call to action should be noticeable throughout your content.
The worst thing you can do is have a boring call to act
ion that nobody cares enough to click on, which brings up the next question.
3. Have you linked your CTAs?
Sure, you can expect people to read your entire content and scroll down to click on your awesome call to action button, but let's not be so lazy. Your customers need a bit of hand-holding and that requires you to give them more than one way to click on things. For example, if you're prompting them to "discover new music", then make sure to link your CTA to the appropriate page.
4. Are you tracking your CTAs?
Hopefully, the answer is always "Yes". If you're shrugging your shoulders, link-tracking simply means you're counting how many times people have clicked on your linked call to action.
You can use tools like Google URL Builder or Bit.ly or any other tracking method for that matter. You'll want to get into the habit of continuously measuring your marketing efforts, as that will help you promote your products and/or services more efficiently. It takes a bit more time, but you'll make much more informed decisions for your next campaign.
5. Are you using a pill-shaped "Click Here" button?
Yes? Shame on you!
That type of marketing belongs next to the blinking text from the late 90s. If you want people to start a trial, your pill-shaped call to action button should read "Start Your Trial" … and, yes, make that title-case, because it stands out more. Don't be vague! People should be able to look at your CTA button and figure out what happens before they click on it.
Once you've tweaked your content, give yourself a pat on the shoulder and a quick breather, because you've just scratched the surface on optimising your marketing effort starting from your call to action.
Michael Kuhlmann is a highly-caffeinated content creator at Quote Roller. When he's not writing stuff, he spends time with his shutterbug wife, teeny toddler and West Highland White Terrier named Beary White who has a Napoleon complex.


text:
The Rising Son
One night along the road of life
Just as the burden of my strife
Became a load too hard to bear
There came a boon to ease my care.
It came to me upon a dream
When the pressing darkness seemed
To severe my last grasp on hope,
Leaving me in doubt to grope.
This boon appeared as a white dove
Shining light from far above,
But as it flew to where I lay
I saw only a hill of clay.
As I watched this smooth round mound
I heard a sweet and soothing sound,
And as my mood slowly improved
The living mound began to move.
A child's body, clothed in flowers,
Radiating super powers,
Grew as if through divine charms,
With two stout legs and four strong arms.
Then to my rising surprise
There appeared two smiling eyes
And, dignified and radiant,
The head of a young elephant.
Now feeling light and filled with joy
I asked this handsome ele-boy,
"What has brought You down to Earth
With Your gifts of love and mirth?"
At first He simply read my soul
Until His gaze had made me whole.
And then He stirred and, playfully,
Crossed His legs and spoke to me:
"I have not come down to you.
If you move your point of view
You will see I'm always here,
In each heart that's true and clear."
Then, just as my senses cleared,
All around me I could hear
That healing angelic sound
That rose up richly from the ground.
Soon it filled my every cell
From a deep eternal well.
Finally I was at home
In the bright, primordial Om.
"Wow! How could I've been so near
But never feel Your Presence here?"
I asked, ecstatic by the Force
That now flowed from endless Source.
As this cool, enlightening Breeze
Dissolved my fears and doubts with ease,
I looked up and noticed that
My new Friend had donned a hat …
No, not hat, a shimmering crown,
Which shone its light now all around —
And I saw that He now grew
Making every being new.
As He expanded like a cloud
I felt proud to be allowed
To see His great magnificence
Fill the world with innocence.
Tears of gratitude I cried,
As I stood and faced the skies.
If we could all just look within
We would never fall again.
~E.E. Saugstad, 2011


text:
70% of ticket machines do not produce cheapest train fares
A joint action plan launched in December last year by the Government, rail industry and consumer groups pledged to ensure machines tell passengers if they could save money by waiting a few minutes to buy an off-peak ticket or going to a ticket office.
But a DfT update a year later revealed just 30% of machines are compliant.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdResearch by the Office of Rail and Road published in July showed that around a third of operators had failed to agree to reimburse passengers for additional costs if they found they could have bought a cheaper ticket for their journey.
The regulator found that a fifth of people do not select the most appropriate fare from ticket machines, including 13% who pay more than they need to.
Paul Plummer, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group, which represents the industry, said it is committed to providing simpler ticketing information and "we will continue to work with the Government and others to get this right".
The DfT reported progress in a number of areas on fares and ticketing, including the sale of cheaper advance tickets up to 15 minutes before travel and greater flexibility when passengers forget railcards.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdPlanning for trials to test the impact of reforming fares will continue next year.
Rail minister Paul Maynard said passengers can be left "scratching their heads" when trying to pay for train travel.
He went on: "Working with the train companies and consumer groups has helped us make some really positive changes, and work will continue into the new year to improve ticket vending machines and bring forward fare pilots, to ensure buying the right ticket is simple, easy and straightforward."
Alex Hayman, a managing director at consumer group Which?, accepted that "good progress has been made" but warned that the Government and the rail industry must "continue to deliver improvements".
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Hide AdAnthony Smith, the boss of passenger watchdog Transport Focus, said he looked forward to seeing "further wins for passengers from wider reform of the complicated issues".
Rail fares will increase by an average of 3.4% on January 2, the largest hike in five years.