The Energia project – funded by WADA – seeks to improve intelligence sharing to snare “those who manufacture and distribute dangerous substances to athletes seeking an edge.”
It named anabolic steroids, growth hormones, peptides and erythropoietin (EPO) as key targeted substances – all of which have been found in, or alleged to be found in, sports supplement products over the years.
The School of Criminal Science at the University of Lausanne (UNIL) is also involved in the project.
“In gaining such intelligence, we are better able to support efforts to cut off the supply of performance enhancing drugs at the source, before they manage to get into the hands of athletes,” said Olivier Niggli, WADA director general.
Roraima Andriani, director of Organized and Emerging Crime at Interpol added: “The use of doping substances to artificially and illegally boost performance is no longer solely associated with elite athletes, as the Internet has made products such as anabolic steroids available to mass consumers. The market is ‘low risk, high profit’ and therefore attractive to organised crime groups worldwide.
“Often manufactured clandestinely with no health regulations, performance-enhancing drugs pose serious health risks to users. We therefore welcome this cooperation agreement with WADA and UNIL which will help the fight against doping in sport.”
Countries that wish to take part in the project can contact WADA.
Peptides appearing on WADA's prohibited list include:
- alexamorelin
- GHRP-6
- hexarelin
- pralmorelin (GHRP-2).
While these are not frequently found in supplements, a food ingredient may be approved for consumption in the general food supply but feature on the prohibited list as a performance enhancer, or be banned above a certain bodily threshold.
After publication, Dr Adam Carey, chair of the European Specialist Sports Nutrition Aalliance stated: “One of ESSNA’s aims is to do what we can to tackle doping in sport. We are therefore very encouraged by, and fully support, Interpol and WADA’s efforts to help countries understand and combat this problem.
"ESSNA is also ready to do what it can to assist member countries’ national anti-doping organisations in their endeavours and we are committed to building the necessary relationships that will help us collectively tackle this issue.”
A new NutraIngredients and ESSNA congress held in Frankfurt on November 28 the day before Health Ingredients Europe will place your business front and centre of the playing field be it in supplements, herbals, powders, mixes, drinks, bars or gels.
More information here.