In another article about music and oxygen uptake, he argues that listening to music violates the WADA code. His argument begins with a recitation of the WADA code's prohibition on substances that enhance oxygen transfer.
The WADA code provides:
"The following are prohibited: (1) blood doping, including the use autologous, homologous or heterologous blood or red blood cell products of any origin; (2) artificially enhancing the uptake, transport, or delivery of oxygen, including but not limited to perflurochemicals, efaproxil (RSR13) and modified haemoglobin products (e.g. haemoglobin-based blood substitutes, microencapsulated haemoglobin products)."
He then underlines the prohibition on "artificially enhancing the uptake, transport, or delivery of oxygen." If listening to music enhances the uptake, transport, or delivery of oxygen, then, according to this crank, it is against the WADA code.
The key question is whether listening to music "artificially" enhances performance. Although he does not address this, it is evident from context that "artificial" as used here in the WADA code means man-made or man-modified and that only artificial substances ingested, injected or absorbed through the skin are prohibited by this provision. We know this because WADA lists two categories of prohibited oxygen boosters. The first is blood doping, which covers the administration of natural blood and its constituent parts. The second is artificial, which covers the administration of man-made or man-modified substances. Although the list of prohibited means of oxygen boosting is not exhaustive, in every case the examples are of substances that are ingested, injected or absorbed through the skin. WADA apparently felt the need to divide up the list into two categories to make it clear that both natural and artificial substances used as a means to enhance oxygen uptake, transfer or delivery are prohibited.
Music, not being a substance that can be ingested, injected or absorbed through the skin, does not "artificially" enhance oxygen uptake, transport or delivery of oxygen under the meaning of the WADA code any more than sleeping in an altitude tent does.
In his defense, this section of the WADA code falls under the "prohibited methods" category rather than the "prohibited substances" category. It could be argued that this categorization is intended to broaden the list of prohibited artificial oxygen boosters to cover things other than the administration of substances.
This would be wrong, however. As is apparent from the examples, all of which are of the administration of substances, WADA did not intend for this to cover anything other than administration of substances. All of the other "prohibited methods" -- excluding tampering with tests -- involve the administration of some type of substance. Even the examples in the gene doping group all involve the administration of some type of substance.
The primary reason WADA has separated "prohibited substances" from "prohibited methods" is that WADA sees a distinction between substances, which typically give rise to a positive test based on their presence or levels in a person's body and methods, which generally do not give rise to a positive test based on their presence or levels in a person's body. For example, autologous blood transfusions cannot be detected through the presence of red blood cells or the level of red blood cells in the body. Suspicions of blood doping may exist when a person's hematocrit is higher than normal, but an athlete is not considered to have violated WADA code's prohibition on blood doping merely by having a high hematocrit. The same is not true of testosterone, which, at high enough levels, generates a positive test that can give rise to sanctions under the code.
This distinction between methods and substances is breaking down as athletes and their medical teams invent new ways to cheat, but it has historical resonance and so WADA still uses it.