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USADA's Tygart says dietary supplements are still dogged by quality 'confidence killers'
NutraIngredients-USA.com caught up with United States Anti-Doping Agency chief executive officer, Travis Tygart, at the recent SupplySide West trade show in Las Vegas to get an update on USADA’s position on dietary supplements.
Tygart said his very presence at the show reflected the agency’s desire to communicate with industry but emphasized ‘confidence killers’ such as steroid contamination and truth in labeling issues that meant USADA was a long way from endorsing sports supplements for athletes in the US.
These factors had, “…created an environment where athletes can’t simply trust what they are getting through a dietary supplement they may choose to contain what it says on the label…”
GMPs
Tygart urged legislative change and said it was too early to tell if GMP compliance could at some stage merit USADA product endorsement.
“We’ll see what it does,” he said of the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) regulation. “It’s just now coming into mandatory effect for all companies. I think the lack of analytical testing is a problem, the fact that it is only monitored to an ingredient list that are provided in advance – that’s not necessarily going to solve contamination and intentional spiking.”
“We absolutely support the GMPs going into place – we’ll see what the effect is.”
Tygart said USADA followed the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in developing its ‘red-flag’ list, and noted geranium as a ‘potent stimulant’ that was raising a particular red flag at the moment.
2 comments (Comments are now closed)
are supplements just for sports athletes?
Travis Tygart makes the assumption that we all live at the pleasure of the elite sports athlete. that rules should be put in place to deny 99% of the population access to certain supplements to assure that tested sports athletes don't break rules set for athletes earning millions of dollars.
the fact that I, as a weekend weight lifter, may be denied geranium oil just because a track star may ingest it by accident is ludicrous and selfish.
Mr Tygart goes on several times saying "we want, we want, we want" as if he speaks for me, but speaks for himself and making his job easier. As if we live to make his life easier .
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Posted by mrbeverage
15 November 2010 | 17h05
More Baloney from USADA
Could Mr. Tygart (or anyone) give me the name of a national-brand nutritional supplement, the consumption of which caused an athlete to fail a drug test? All this hand-wringing is designed to create fear in the minds of coaches, trainers and athletes and to discredit a legitimate and valuable industry. It's as easy as ABC:
A. Stay with national brands
B. Avoid ANYTHING sold only through the internet.
C. Avoid products purporting to alter hormone levels or dramatically increase performance.
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Posted by Stephen Cherniske
09 November 2010 | 01h55