WADA changes its mind on baldness
Perhaps I don’t watch enough television these days, but I have not noticed any sudden increase in the number of bald athletes or sports persons. For the most part, all these fit specimens of humanity seem to thump the ball or run around energetically while affecting the usual flowing locks. Wait, you don’t mean that these poor people have been forced to wear wigs all this time? Imagine all that sweat under a heavy crown of artificial hair. Or is that why many people wear these caps - I always thought that was to help keep the sun out of their eyes. How naive I was. Hmmm? You’re not following this? Ah, my apologies. I have the cart before the horse yet again. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is in the business of devising tests to detect drug cheats. These are the people who enhance their performance by training with anabolic steroids and other banned substances as part of their regime. It gives them an unfair advantage. But just as WADA devises a new test, so the cheats develop new ways of hiding their steroids. One of the substances thought to mask the use of steroids was finasteride which is sold under the name of propecia. This is a perfectly legitimate drug used to treat male pattern baldness. It has an excellent track record for effectiveness and safety only requiring that the man takes one tablet per day for as long as he wishes to retain his hair. Thus, propecia was duly added to the List of Prohibited Substances and Methods. Over time, a number of athletes were banned for using propecia. Without exception, they all protested their innocence of any use of steroids or other banned performance enhancer. There was considerable litigation. WADA’s decision to remove propecia from its list reflects the emergence of evidence that propecia does not interfere with the tests for steroids nor mask their use in any way. This does not help the athletes who were banned for its use nor the unfortunate publicity that was given to their baldness. But one thing is undeniable. WADA publishes its list. Propecia was clearly identified on it as a banned substance and these athletes broke the rule. Whether the rule was a good one or not cannot change the wrongfulness of the athletes’ decision. As to those of you athletes who are threatened with hair loss. Propecia is a great product and you can use it without breaking the rules as from January 1, 2009.