On July 21, 2016, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected the Russian Olympic Committee’s appeal of the Nov. 14, 2015 suspension of Russian track and field athletes by the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF). The...
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On July 21, 2016, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected the Russian Olympic Committee’s appeal of the Nov. 14, 2015 suspension of Russian track and field athletes by the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF). The Court’s ruling means that 68 Russian track and field athletes will not be able to participate in the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics (beginning on Aug. 5) due to doping.

The IAAF suspended the Russian athletes from all international competition in a 24-1 vote after news broke of widespread Russian doping at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. Head of a Moscow drug testing lab, Grigory Rodchenko, admitted to developing a three-drug cocktail, mixed with liquor to speed the absorption of the drugs, that he gave to dozens of Russian athletes, including at least 15 medal winners. Rodchenko switched tainted samples given at the Olympics with clean samples provided months earlier, passing the samples through a “mouse hole” in the wall of the sample collection room in Sochi. As a result, all Russian athletes tested clean at the Sochi Olympics.

Two Russian athletes, Darya Klishina, a long jumper, and Yuliya Stepanova, a middle-distance runner, both of whom have been living in the United States and independently drug-tested, have been cleared to compete in the 2016 Olympics as individual, neutral competitors, but cannot compete under the Russian flag.

Russian pole vaulter, Yelena Isinbayeva, one of the 68 banned athletes, stated that the ruling was “a blatant political order,” adding, “Thank you all for this funeral for athletics.”

Vitaly Mutko, Russia’s Sports Minister, stated, “In my view, certainly, this decision absolutely violates the rights of clean athletes, honest athletes, and sets a collective responsibility precedent.”

IAAF President Lord Coe stated, “This is not a day for triumphant statements, I didn’t come into this sport to stop athletes from competing. Beyond Rio, the IAAF taskforce will continue to work with Russia to establish a clean safe environment for its athletes so that its federation and team can return to international recognition and competition.”

The doping scandal came to light in a 2014 German documentary, and a 2015 Independent Commission established by WADA found evidence of a Russian state-sponsored doping program as far back as the 2008 Beijing Olympics, if not longer. A new study known as the McLaren Report was released this week and alleged that Russia’s Sports Minister was involved with manipulating the anti-doping measures. Besides track and field participants, athletes in 27 other sports including weightlifting, cycling, and wrestling are believed to have gotten away with doping.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is considering a total ban on Russian athletes at the 2016 Olympics.

(via ProCon.org)

Source: procon.org

A new poll from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health shows that 57% of Americans would like prescription drug advertisements to be banned from television, while 34% oppose such a ban. Among those surveyed, 7% stated that they had considered...
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A new poll from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health shows that 57% of Americans would like prescription drug advertisements to be banned from television, while 34% oppose such a ban.

Among those surveyed, 7% stated that they had considered taking a prescription drug they viewed on television over the past 12 months, while 93% said that they had not. Of the respondents who considered taking a drug they saw advertised on television, 76% believed the advertisements clearly stated the risks and side effects associated with the drug.

In 1999, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released regulations for prescription drug advertisements on television in a report titled “Guidance for Industry: Consumer-Directed Broadcast Advertisements.” The FDA rules required that all broadcast ads include brief information about the major risks associated with any drug being advertised.

On Nov. 17, 2015, the American Medical Association (AMA) issued a public call to ban direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription drugs. AMA Board Chair Patrice A. Harris said the AMA’s decision “reflects concerns among physicians about the negative impact of commercially-driven promotions, and the role that marketing costs play in fueling escalating drug prices.” According to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), “government agencies and independent experts report no direct relationship between drug marketing and drug prices.”

The Congressional Budget Office reported in 2011 that the average number of prescriptions for new drugs with DTC advertising was nine times greater than prescriptions for new drugs without DTC ads.

The United States and New Zealand are currently the only two countries where DTC advertising of prescription drugs is legal 

(via Most Americans Want Prescription Drug Ads Banned from TV - ProCon.org)

Source: procon.org

Sports Doping Scandal Could Strip Athletes of 146 Olympic and World Championships Medals

imageAustralian doping experts analyzed 12,000 blood tests from 5,000 athletes and found “suspicious” results. The blood tests, leaked from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), show that 146 (approximately 30%) of Olympic and World Championships medals won between 2001 and 2012 in endurance sports, including 55 gold medals, were won by athletes with abnormal blood test results.

The 2012 London Olympics awarded 10 medals to potentially doped athletes, in some events all three medals went to athletes with suspicious blood test results.

One in four winners of major city marathons “should have faced censure or at least been investigated over evidence of potential blood doping,” according to a report by the Sunday Times, that received the leaked tests from a whistleblower. The winning athletes with questionable blood test results collected more than $6 million dollars collectively in prize money from marathons.

Some accuse the IAAF, the organization responsible for blood testing, of allowing doping to infiltrate the sport. Robin Parisotto, one of the scientists who analyzed the blood samples, stated, “So many athletes seem to have doped with impunity, and it is damning that the IAAF appears to have idly sat by and let this happen.”

Source: procon.org

Medical Marijuana Legalization Does Not Increase Teen Use, New Study Finds

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A study published online on June 16, 2015 by Lancet Psychiatry found that state legalization of medical marijuana does not increase teen use of the drug. The rate of marijuana use amongst teens in states that have legalized marijuana for medical use was found to be higher than in states which ban the drug, however that was the case before and after the laws were changed.


The study examined data from 24 years of national surveys conducted in about 400 schools, which asked students in eighth, 10th and 12th grades whether or not they had used marijuana during the previous 30 days. After a law was passed to legalize medical marijuana, the rate of teen use amongst all age groups studied dropped from 16% to 15%, below the threshold required for statistical significance. When the results were limited to eighth graders only, the rate of use went down by a statistically significant degree after the law was passed, dropping from 8% to 6%.

When considering data collected both before and after medical marijuana laws were passed, the researchers found a higher prevalence of teen marijuana use in states that have legalized medical marijuana (16%) than in states which have not (13%).

Deborah Hasin, PhD, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology (in Psychiatry) at Columbia University and co-author of the Lancetstudy, stated that “Our findings provide the strongest evidence to date that marijuana use by teenagers does not increase after a state legalizes medical marijuana.” Seth Ammerman, MD, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Stanford University, found the study’s results “reassuring… if a state does put in medical marijuana laws, that that’s not going to significantly affect adolescent use.” Dr. Ammerman suggested that the higher rates of teen marijuana use in legal states may be due to attitudes toward the drug being more liberal in those states.

Source: procon.org

FDA Requirements for Prescription Drug Ads

Prescription drugs may be advertised in three types of ads: 

1. Product claim ads require the most information and give both the drug name and a medical condition the drug treats;

2. Help-seeking ads may only describe a medical condition or disease but may not name a drug;

3. Reminder ads may name a drug but no medical conditions or diseases. 

The FDA sets regulations for prescription drug ads, but it does not review ads before they are released to the public. If an ad violates the regulations, the FDA takes action to have the pharmaceutical company correct or remove the ad. 

Below are the requirements for each type of ad from the FDA’s June 6, 2013 “Be Smart about Prescription Drug Advertising: A Guide for Consumers,” available at www.fda.gov.

Pros and Cons of Abortion, Obesity as a Disease, and Prescription Drug Ads Debated at ProCon.org

red apple health
ProCon.org, America’s largest provider of free pro and con research on controversial issues, has updated and expanded its information on the controversial health topics of abortion, obesity, and prescription drug advertising to consumers. 

These three health topics explore the core questions: “Should abortion be legal?,” “Is obesity a disease?,” and “Should prescription drugs be advertised directly to consumers?”

15 Anti-Obesity Drugs, 1892-Present

diet pills, apple, and measuring tapeDoctors and drug manufacturers have been trying to help patients lose weight for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Soranus of Ephesus, a Greek physician in the second century AD, used a combination of laxatives and emetics to help his patients lose weight. Patients, doctors, and drug manufacturers often overlook serious side effects in the quest for weight loss. For example, the industrial chemical, 2,4 Dinitrophenol (DNP), used for pesticides and wood preservatives, has been used by bodybuilders for fat loss since the 1980s despite being linked to at least 62 deaths.

Below are a selection of 15 drugs used to combat obesity, many of which have been discontinued or withdrawn over health concerns, along with their status in the United States as of Apr. 2014, and their side effects. As of May 2014, seven of the drugs are legally available (one of these, thyroid extract, is frequently used off-label and unregulated by bodybuilders) and eight have been discontinued or withdrawn over safety concerns (three of which are still used illegally).

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Now Pro to Medical Marijuana

imageHarry Reid, the US Senate Majority Leader, now favors medical marijuana, according to an interview with the Las Vegas Sun. Reid’s statement came as a response to several Nevada municipalities issuing moratoriums on medical marijuana dispensaries.

When asked about his opinion on whether medical marijuana should be legal Reid said, “if you’d asked me this question a dozen years ago, it would have been easy to answer. I would have said no, because (marijuana) leads to other stuff. But I can’t say that anymore. I think we need to take a real close look at this. I think that there’s some medical reasons for marijuana.”

Reid attributed his changing stance to reading news stories about individuals using marijuana and speaking to people he has known personally who have used marijuana to relieve symptoms associated with seizures, kidney failure, and other “conditions with no other treatment or cure.”

Should Prescription Drugs Be Advertised Directly to Consumers?

Should Prescription Drugs Be Advertised Directly to Consumers?The US and New Zealand are the only two countries where direct to consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription drugs is legal.  In the US, these ads are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure that they are not false or misleading.

Many research organizations and pharmaceutical industry groups contend that the ads are educational, provide consumers with important information that may benefit their health, and help generate sales revenue necessary to offset high research and development costs.

Opponents counter that DTC drug ads are often just sales pitches which pressure doctors to provide unnecessary medications and cause patients to seek unhelpful and costly remedies. They say that the FDA does an inadequate job of making sure drug ads are not false or misleading. Read more…

Should Prescription Drugs Be Advertised Directly to Consumers?

Should Prescription Drugs Be Advertised Directly to Consumers?The US and New Zealand are the only two countries where direct to consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription drugs is legal.  In the US, these ads are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure that they are not false or misleading.

Many research organizations and pharmaceutical industry groups contend that the ads are educational, provide consumers with important information that may benefit their health, and help generate sales revenue necessary to offset high research and development costs.

Opponents counter that DTC drug ads are often just sales pitches which pressure doctors to provide unnecessary medications and cause patients to seek unhelpful and costly remedies. They say that the FDA does an inadequate job of making sure drug ads are not false or misleading. Read more…

Social Networking Sites Impact Teen Drinking and Smoking, Study Finds

imageAdolescents who see their friends partying or drinking on social networking sites are more likely to smoke and use alcohol, according to a Sep. 3, 2013 peer-reviewed study in the Journal of Adolescent Health. While viewing friends’ online pictures of smoking or drinking “significantly contributed” to adolescent smoking and drinking, the frequency of social media use and the number of online friendships were not associated with those behaviors.

The National Institutes of Health-sponsored study, “Peer Influences: The Impact of Online and Offline Friendship Networks on Adolescent Smoking and Alcohol Use,” surveyed 1,563 10th-grade students across five Southern California high schools. Researchers coded smoking and alcohol use into 5-point scores ranging from “not susceptible” to “daily smoker/drinker.” Students were asked about the frequency of their own social media use, and asked to name seven best friends and describe their smoking, drinking, and social media behavior.

34% of students have at least one friend who talks about partying online and 20% report that their friends post party/drinking pictures online.

“Exposure to risky online content had a direct impact on adolescents’ risk behaviors and significantly interacted with risk behaviors of their friends,” according to the study’s authors. “These results provide evidence that friends’ online behaviors should be considered a viable source of peer influence and that increased efforts should focus on educating adolescents on the negative effects of risky online displays.”

Source: socialnetworking.procon.org

Thirteen MLB Stars Suspended for Performance Enhancing Drugs

imageThirteen Major League Baseball (MLB) players were suspended today for their alleged use of performance enhancing drugs. Twelve, including All-Stars Nelson Cruz, Jhonny Peralta, and Everth Cabrera, were suspended for 50 games, while three-time MVP and highest-paid player Alex Rodriguez was suspended for 211 games.

The players were suspended following a yearlong investigation by the MLB into their ties to the now-closed South Florida anti-aging clinic Biogenesis of America, which is accused of distributing banned performance-enhancing drugs. Players were tied to the clinic through “non-analytic” findings, meaning MLB used evidence other than failed drug tests to link players to the banned substances. They will not be paid while serving their suspensions.

Rodriguez, the highest-profile alleged client of the clinic, was suspended through the end of the 2014 season, the longest non-lifetime suspension in MLB history. He is able to play during his appeal, but stands to lose $34,240,437 if his suspension is upheld. Rodriguez’s discipline, MLB said in its written announcement, is “based on his use and possession of numerous forms of prohibited performance-enhancing substances, including testosterone and human growth hormone, over the course of multiple years.” The extended length of Rodriguez’s suspension is for “attempting to cover up his violations of the program by engaging in a course of conduct intended to obstruct and frustrate the investigation,” according to MLB.