World Anti-Doping Agency

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is an independent foundation created through a collective initiative led by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was set up on November 10, 1999 in Lausanne, Switzerland to coordinate the fight against drugs in sport. Its current chairman is Richard Pound, a former IOC vice-president and outspoken opponent of drugs in sport. In 2001, WADA voted to move its headquarters to Montreal, Canada.

Initially funded by the International Olympic Committee, WADA now receives only half of its budgetary requirements from them, with the other half coming from various governments throughout the world. The agency works to help individual sporting federations implement testing procedures in the fields of education and research. It also produces a list of prohibited substances that athletes are not allowed to take.^[1]^[2]

In 2004, the World Anti-Doping Code was implemented by sports organizations prior to the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, standardizing the rules and regulations governing anti-doping across all sports and all countries for the first time.

1 Criticisms
- 1.1 NFL Players Association
- 1.2 Paruresis
2 References
3 External links

[edit] Criticisms

[edit] NFL Players Association

WADA has received criticism from the NFL Players Association executive director Gene Upshaw. When asked if the NFL will use WADA tests on NFL players, he stated "I have no confidence in WADA or their kits. I have my doubts about WADA and their history. I am not willing to accept them as an authority on this."^[3] The NFL currently only uses urine tests, which does not detect HGH. The WADA test detects HGH but reportedly only 23-36 hours after it is injected into the athlete.

[edit] Paruresis

In spite of a growing awareness of, and catering for the condition Paruresis by a number of other drug testing agencies, some of which deal with convicted prisoners and those on probation, the WADA urine sampling rules do not at present cater for sufferers of this condition.