EPO guinea pigs

[flicker]

Epo

I just don't understand why anyone would want to use a medicine to cheat. It is beyond the fathom of my conciousness.

 

[stephens]

Consider that we all put all kinds of substances into our bodies. Some we call food, some we call medicine, some we call drugs, etc. There is not necessarily any objective reason for where these lines get drawn to separate those categories or where the lines get drawn between what is "right" and what isn't right to put into our bodies. (now they say even one's own blood is wrong!) Certainly no one asked the athletes where they wanted the lines drawn: only those profiting off the efforts of the athletes are making those rules (sponsors, media, government bureaucracies and sporting bodies, etc.)

I think this is how a lot of athletes might justify it. They are thinking they are just trying to make their body as best as it can be - training, nutrition, supplements, etc. all play into that. That someone out there has deemed certain substances illegal is seen as a technicality, not an ethical issue, and the "cheating" is excused by claiming that if everyone is doing it, then everyone is equally following/breaking the rules.

 

[Race Radio]

I just don't understand why anyone would want to use a medicine to cheat. It is beyond the fathom of my conciousness.

Armstrong make $20-30 million a year......you can't understand that motivation?

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

As far as I recall the FDA warning on epo was issued on the basis on a study on Head-and-neck tumours showing a increased risk of failure of the external beam radiation in the epo-group vs. the controls (subjects were given epo during ebr to counter radiation induced anaemia).

This progressed into another FDA-warning on the use of epo for patients with widespread cancer disease. It was customary to administer epo to these patients as they would typically be anaemic as a result of increased haemolysis or red bone marrow displacement. It turned out that these patients fared worse than the patients treated with regular blood transfusions. Epo could, apart from raising the hct, also induce increased microvessel density in tumours (both increasing tumour oxygenitation) or act as a growth factor in tumours but this is a bit speculative. Epo-receptors may be wide spread in the human body, studies on the cognitive changes induced by epo have been done. The most likely conclusion on that matter is that epo somehow induces mythomanic tendencies

Saying that epo is carcinogenic in persons with no pre-existing cancer is (to my knowledge) unsubstantiated. Time will tell if we get a huge spike of cancers in 'previously healthy former elite athletes' in 20-30 years time.

Meanwhile, I'm keeping an eye open for the cancer statistics in the NBA and NFL - all that hgh has to kick start a significant amount of tumours - but perhaps that'll be masked by the increased amount of untimely sudden cardiac deaths caused by the 'roids and recreational drugs.

Actually all studies show that the Avg.-Life-Expectancy for NFL-Players is HIGHER then for the "normal" US-Population.

The last study is from the late 90s. So we have steroid use, painkiller-use and suicide already inside those numbers. The conclusion is: The Athletes are not only more talented but also healthier. It shows they can absorb massive drug-use and too much body-fat (Linemen).

No study for pro cyclists are existing, but i think the results would be the same.