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Anti-Doping Expert Michele Verroken Says WADA's Therapeutic Use Exemption System Misused for Asthma and Steroid Treatments
Michele Verroken, the founder of Sporting Integrity and the former Director of Ethics and Anti-Doping at UK Sport, believes a lot of athletes are abusing the current World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) system for therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs). This results in athletes secretly obtaining WADA's permission to use otherwise prohibited performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) like banned asthma drugs and steroids.
“There is the opportunity currently for abuse of the TUE system. That’s my real frustration, that we still have a long way way to get a better system in place,” Verroken said. “Then there is no suspicion about any athlete who has a genuine medical condition. There is the possibility that even a treatment as simple as asthma is being misused. We’ve seen that in the past.”
Verroken is the latest anti-doping expert to come out in support of the main premise put forth by the Russian hacking group known as Fancy Bears: athletes are abusing the TUE system as a loophole to use banned drugs to enhance their physical performance and gain an advantage on their competitors.
Richard McLaren, the attorney and law professor hired by WADA to lead an independent commission into state-sponsored doping by the Russian government, recently told the BBC that he believes athletes are “probably” abusing therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) to unfairly enhance their performance.
McLaren thinks the system is particularly abused by athletes who claim a diagnosis of attention-deficit disorder (ADD) to illegitimately obtain a TUE for powerful amphetamines like Ritalin and Adderall. Verroken sees a similar amount of abuse in athletes claiming a diagnosis of asthma so that they can obtain TUEs for long-acting beta agonists (LABAs) like Ventolin (albuterol or salbutamol) and strong anti-inflammatory injectable steroids like Kenalog (triamcinolone acetonide).
“I have been absolutely frustrated to be in the presence of coaches who have recommended their team go to GPs saying they get out of breath when they are training – and who doesn’t get out of breath as an athlete?” Verroken said. “They will say ‘really labour the fact you have difficulty breathing’ so they get prescribed an asthma inhaler when they genuinely don’t have asthma.”
The FancyBear Hack Team illegally accessed the TUE records for all athletes listed in the WADA’s Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS) database. Over the past several days, it has released the records for a number of prominent Olympic athletes including Simone Biles, Serena Williams, Chris Froome, Bradley Wiggins, Rafael Nadal and Mo Farah. The breach has shown that WADA secretly gives permission (via TUEs) for many so-called “clean athletes” to use a variety of powerful, but otherwise banned, performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs).
It turns out that the rhetoric used by anti-doping crusaders of clean athletes versus dirty athletes is a moral distinction without much meaning. The clean athletes aren't really clean at all. They still use PEDs. They've just been secretly given permission to use them by WADA.
According to WADA's definitions, clean athletes are athletes who follow the rules to use steroids, amphetamines and salbutamol with the secret approval of WADA. Dirty athletes use steroids, amphetamines and salbutamol without WADA's permission.
Verroken and McLaren certainly won't be the last anti-doping experts to criticize WADA's double standards and lack of transparency regarding the flawed TUE system. The Fancy Bear hack has exposed WADA's TUE system as inherently unfair and subject to misuse. It's a failing that is too big to ignore.
Michele Verroken, the founder of Sporting Integrity and the former Director of Ethics and Anti-Doping at UK Sport, believes a lot of athletes are abusing the current World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) system for therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs). This results in athletes secretly obtaining WADA's permission to use otherwise prohibited performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) like banned asthma drugs and steroids.
“There is the opportunity currently for abuse of the TUE system. That’s my real frustration, that we still have a long way way to get a better system in place,” Verroken said. “Then there is no suspicion about any athlete who has a genuine medical condition. There is the possibility that even a treatment as simple as asthma is being misused. We’ve seen that in the past.”
Verroken is the latest anti-doping expert to come out in support of the main premise put forth by the Russian hacking group known as Fancy Bears: athletes are abusing the TUE system as a loophole to use banned drugs to enhance their physical performance and gain an advantage on their competitors.
Richard McLaren, the attorney and law professor hired by WADA to lead an independent commission into state-sponsored doping by the Russian government, recently told the BBC that he believes athletes are “probably” abusing therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) to unfairly enhance their performance.
McLaren thinks the system is particularly abused by athletes who claim a diagnosis of attention-deficit disorder (ADD) to illegitimately obtain a TUE for powerful amphetamines like Ritalin and Adderall. Verroken sees a similar amount of abuse in athletes claiming a diagnosis of asthma so that they can obtain TUEs for long-acting beta agonists (LABAs) like Ventolin (albuterol or salbutamol) and strong anti-inflammatory injectable steroids like Kenalog (triamcinolone acetonide).
“I have been absolutely frustrated to be in the presence of coaches who have recommended their team go to GPs saying they get out of breath when they are training – and who doesn’t get out of breath as an athlete?” Verroken said. “They will say ‘really labour the fact you have difficulty breathing’ so they get prescribed an asthma inhaler when they genuinely don’t have asthma.”
The FancyBear Hack Team illegally accessed the TUE records for all athletes listed in the WADA’s Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS) database. Over the past several days, it has released the records for a number of prominent Olympic athletes including Simone Biles, Serena Williams, Chris Froome, Bradley Wiggins, Rafael Nadal and Mo Farah. The breach has shown that WADA secretly gives permission (via TUEs) for many so-called “clean athletes” to use a variety of powerful, but otherwise banned, performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs).
It turns out that the rhetoric used by anti-doping crusaders of clean athletes versus dirty athletes is a moral distinction without much meaning. The clean athletes aren't really clean at all. They still use PEDs. They've just been secretly given permission to use them by WADA.
According to WADA's definitions, clean athletes are athletes who follow the rules to use steroids, amphetamines and salbutamol with the secret approval of WADA. Dirty athletes use steroids, amphetamines and salbutamol without WADA's permission.
Verroken and McLaren certainly won't be the last anti-doping experts to criticize WADA's double standards and lack of transparency regarding the flawed TUE system. The Fancy Bear hack has exposed WADA's TUE system as inherently unfair and subject to misuse. It's a failing that is too big to ignore.