An article on AllSport.ru contains the following statement regarding a positive result and pending charges:
The full results of the analysis have not yet been sent to the All-Russian athletics federation. However, it is already known that the substance found is absent from the WADA prohibited list. It was classified to the class S4 “Agents with anti-estrogenic activity”. To explain, these agents can block woman hormones.
S4 in DEA parlance stands for "Schedule 4", meaning it is only available by prescription.
I don't know much about female reproductive endocrinology, but this thing could easily be some sort of contraception (the pill).
El Toro wrote:A fairly straightforward explanation here
Okay. To be honest, I pretty much stopped reading at the end of the abstract. But I did read this part:
In women, however, the negligible effect on blood testosterone suggests that drug-induced performance enhancement by hCG or estrogen blockers is highly unlikely. Furthermore, routine urinary hCG testing in young women risks invasion of privacy by detecting unrecognized pregnancy. These considerations suggest that prohibition of hCG and estrogen blockers should be restricted to men in which they are well justified.
But the athlete in question is a woman. And if "drug-induced performance enhancement by hCG or estrogen blockers is highly unlikely", then why would this be something that WADA is reporting to the VFLA as a doping violation?
BruceFlorman wrote:Okay. To be honest, I pretty much stopped reading at the end of the abstract.
That's why they write them!
BruceFlorman wrote:But the athlete in question is a woman. And if "drug-induced performance enhancement by hCG or estrogen blockers is highly unlikely", then why would this be something that WADA is reporting to the VFLA as a doping violation?
Quite simply, it's because it's on the WADA banned list in Section 4 (S4). You didn't actually believe that a lack of actual performance enhancement would stop WADA in its tracks?
S4. AGENTS WITH ANTI-ESTROGENIC ACTIVITY The following classes of anti-estrogenic substances are prohibited: 1. Aromatase inhibitors including, but not limited to, anastrozole, letrozole, aminoglutethimide, exemestane, formestane, testolactone. 2. Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators (SERMs) including, but not limited to, raloxifene, tamoxifen, toremifene. 3. Other anti-estrogenic substances including, but not limited to, clomiphene, cyclofenil, fulvestrant.
