23 Sep 2011
FISA initiates “No Needles” Policy
In the continued quest to protect the health of athletes and to fight against the use of prohibited substances and methods in sport, the International Rowing Federation, FISA, and the International Cycling Union, UCI, have collaborated closely to create a new “No Needles” Policy – a policy that prohibits using injections without a justified medical reason.The policy seeks to protect the sport of rowing from the culture of needles, the trivialisation of injections, and exaggerated use of pseudo-medical related products administered through injection. The banning of injections should have an impact on doping practices. Injections of products like vitamins or nutritional supplements allow, in particular, young athletes to become accustomed to such treatments which can be the start of a gradual slide into doping as they believe injections are a normal part of preparation or recovery.
The FISA Council took the lead on initiating the No Needles Policy after becoming aware of an increase in the use of injections to administer products that were not for specific medical purposes. FISA Sports Medicine Commission Chair Dr. Alain Lacoste states that the practice of using injections for non-medical purposes is:
- Medically unjustified and against ‘good medical practice’ guidelines;
- Dangerous for the health of the athletes;
- Against the spirit of sport;
- A health and safety issue for employees who have to dispose of the needles (eg hotel cleaning staff).
“There is the belief by some coaches and doctors that injections are a better way to promote recovery and rehydration than drinking fluids or taking medication orally,” says Lacoste. He has noted that there have been studies showing that taking medication orally is just as effective as injecting. “Injections are not an acceptable means of helping recovery. Natural recovery should be encouraged, if an athlete is resorting to injecting or taking products to aid recovery or to mask pain, then they are not listening to their bodies and are at increased risk of long term damage”, says Lacoste.
There has been no policy regarding the injection of permitted substances by athletes prior to this No Needles Policy, thus this policy will be in addition to the WADA, World Anti-Doping Agency, prohibited list. The rule came into force at FISA on 19 April 2011. The UCI implemented this rule which came into force before the start of the Giro d’Italia (Cycling’s Tour of Italy) in May.
FIG, the International Gymnastics Federation, have also decided to implement the new rule soon and there has been interest from the International Swimming Federation, FINA, the International Ski Federation, FIS, and the International Association of Athletics Federations, IAAF. The IOC have also expressed interest in implementing this policy for the 2012 Olympic Games in London..
FISA’s No Needles Policy came into force in April and reads:
Bye-Law to Rule 55 – Injections
During International Regattas (from 24 hours before the start of the first race of the Regatta through to 24 hours after the end of the last race at such Regatta), any injection to any site of an athlete’s body of any substance:
1. must be medically justified. Justification includes physical examination by a certified medical doctor (M.D.), diagnosis, medication, route of administration and appropriate documentation
2. must respect the approved indication of the medication = no off-label;
3. must be administered by a certified medical professional unless authorized by the FISA Doctor or the Regatta Doctor, and;
4. must be reported immediately and in writing not later than 24 hours afterwards to the FISA Doctor or the Regatta Doctor (except athletes with a valid TUE for this competition). The report must include the diagnosis, medication and route of administration.
The disposal of used needles, syringes and other biomedical material which may affect the security and safety of others, including blood sampling (e.g. lactates…) and other diagnostic equipment shall conform to recognised safety standards.
Any violation of one of these principles may constitute a violation of the FISA Rules and may lead to penalties including exclusion of the crew concerned or, where appropriate, disqualification of the whole team from the regatta. The Executive Committee is the judicial body which shall determine the process to be followed.
The costs of any investigations related to this rule may be charged to the member federation concerned.