Pseudoephedrine back on the banned list, but asthma drugs don't require TUE. Status of blood spinning may be still a bit murky:

http://www.wada-ama.org/en/newsartic...icleId=3115846

Cold drug back on banned list
Nicole Jeffery | September 21, 2009
Article from: The Australian
THE World Anti-Doping Agency will put the stimulant pseudoephedrine back on the banned list next year because of evidence of "clear abuse" by athletes.

Pseudoephedrine, which is used in the manufacture of methamphetamines, was removed from the banned list in 2004 because the agency had found no evidence it enhanced performance.

However, it continued to monitor the use of the drug and has now acted to restore it to the banned list.

The WADA board approved the 2010 prohibited list at its meeting in Montreal at the weekend. "Results of the monitoring program over the past five years have shown a sustained increase in samples containing pseudoephedrine concentrations of more than 75 milligrams per millilitre," WADA reported.

"The program indicated clear abuse of this substance with high concentrations in a number of sports and regions. In addition, available literature shows scientific evidence of the performance-enhancing effects of pseudoephedrine beyond certain doses."

Several NRL club doctors reported in 2005 that players were requesting Sudafed tablets before matches. The Manly, Cronulla and Wests Tigers doctors confirmed at the time players were taking the drug to increase their alertness before games.

The same year an AFL survey revealed that almost 60 per cent of players had taken caffeine or No Doze tablets for a pre-game pep-up. Caffeine is still on the WADA monitoring list but has not been banned.

WADA chief executive David Howman revealed late last year he had received reports of players using ******, caffeine and pseudoephedrine in a dangerous cocktail of stimulants.

"What we are told is that it (******) gets used in a cocktail with caffeine pills and pseudoephedrine," Howman said.

WADA has now acted to stamp out the use of at least one ingredient of the cocktail.

When pseudoephedrine was previously on the banned list it often led to inadvertent positive tests when athletes did not check over-the-counter medications for colds and influenza. That mistake generally attracted penalties from between a warning and a three-month ban. Pseudoephedrine has since been removed from over-the-counter medications in Australia because it can be used to manufacture illegal methamphetamines. It is now only available with a prescription and is therefore far less likely to be used inadvertently.

From next year, athletes will face sanctions ranging from a warning to a two-year competition ban if they give a positive test for pseudoephedrine.

Athletes who have a concentration of the drug above 150 milligrams per millilitre in their urine will face sanctions.

Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority chief Richard Ings said an athlete would have to be deliberately abusing pseudoephedrine to go over the threshold.

"It's a level that's high enough that if you are using it in over-the-counter medications, it would be difficult to impossible to get over the threshhold," he said. "Anyone taking it for normal medicinal use would not get to that level."

WADA has also recommended all anti-doping agencies conduct education campaigns to make athletes aware of the new banned list.

In another change to the list, asthmatic athletes will have easier access to the asthma drug salbutamol.

Under the current rules, athletes can only use salbutamol in an inhaler if they have attained a Therapeutic Use Exemption from their national federation.

From next year they will be able to take the drug legally by filling out a declaration of use on the doping control form, as long as the concentration of the drug is consistent with normal medicinal use (less than 1000 nanograms per millilitre).

The new prohibited list will come into effect on January 1.