Yeah, this is an interesting subject...what i want to know is how can they
tell if someone's been 'using'..? Do athletes have to have cameras in their
homes now?

My only opposition is that these tents are expensive, and so not really
accessible by 'all'...but then again, tech is always that way...i don't have
a $20,000 bicycle either. ;)

*d*

----- Original Message -----
From: "Vegan Bodybuilding" <pete@...>
To: "Veganbodybuilding@Yahoo (veganbodybuilding@yahoo)"
<veganbodybuilding@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, August 04, 2006 12:45 AM
Subject: [veganbodybuilding] WADA's hypoxic conditions proposal - please
review and reply


Here's something I got that will annoy many of you natural endurance
athletes (I was asked to pass it about, so here it is). The proposed ban
makes no sense to me at all? So, you could fly in from a high altitude
place & it would be fine, or would it? What about events in high altitudes,
the local athletes would a have a major advantage, & infact not having any
experience in a high altitude environment could actually facilitate injury!
These tents just allow natural adaptation, just like using weights, maybe
they'll ban them next as being "unfair"? Also, as far as I know there ahs
never, ever been any problem, side effect, or injury from a altitude tent
(compare that to any other training aid!!!).
If anyone is getting involved in this campaign, then keep us up to date with
how it develops...

Pete www.veganbodybuilding.org

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As athletes, sport scientists, and promoters of a rational drug policy in
sports, we do not support WADA's proposed ban against altitude tents and
hypoxic training.

As WADA moves forward in defining the spirit of sports, it is essential that
it differentiates between true doping and advances in environmental
training. Environmental manipulations (e.g. heat, cold, altitude, humidity
etc.) are frequent elements of an athlete's training plan, and cannot be
considered unethical. An environmental change is fundamentally different
than the use of drugs or blood doping.

True doping takes the body outside its natural limits. The use of dangerous
performance enhancing drugs or blood doping are in an entirely different
category than altitude or hypoxic training, which constitutes only an
environmental change to which the athlete's body naturally responds within
normal limits. As such the use of altitude simulation technology is an
ethical means of training.

Simulated altitude environments have been used for more that 12 years with a
perfect safety record. No athlete has been harmed or reported ill effects
from more than ten million hours of athlete use. This makes altitude tents
among the safest training methods ever employed. This cannot be said for
even the most benign of training methods. The vast majority of sport
scientists and their published studies concur that altitude simulation
systems are safe. As such they should not be banned.

Not all hypoxic environments are designed for passive use. Hypoxic exercise
rooms are a rapidly growing part of altitude simulation. However, there is
no basis for an ethical difference between active and passive interaction.
Passive interaction with technology has been allowed without question for
years including the use of air conditioning, saunas, hot tubs, cooling
vests, and passive interaction with practices has also been allowed
including massage, icing injuries, chiropractic adjustment, and complex
nutritional regimens. A principle of banning "passive benefit" is not
rational and cannot be consistently applied.

Altitude tents provide a training stimulus no different than that of
terrestrial altitude. They make the same training modalities available more
conveniently to athletes at a lesser cost. Because the hypoxic conditions of
altitude are now easily duplicated in an athlete's home, athletes no longer
have to suffer separation from peers, career, community, or family during
long trips to mountain environments. Athletes generally spend only the time
of sleep in an altitude tent, thus allowing athletes to maintain a high
quality and balanced life while dedicating themselves to training. Whether
hypoxic conditions are from terrestrial altitude or from a hypoxic tent is
no ethical significance.

Bans on true methods of doping have generally garnered the broad support of
the scientific and athletic communities. The proposed ban on altitude tents
lacks popular support. The public, most athletes, coaches, and nearly the
entire medical community oppose the ban. Altitude tents have been lauded in
the popular and scientific press as a benefit to athletes and an ethical
means of training. Many athletes including mother-to-be Paula Radcliffe and
WADA member Beckie Scott have seen their use of altitude tents as a badge of
honor and demonstration of their commitment to the "Play True" philosophy of
WADA. Altitude tents and altitude training promote safe and drug free
sports.

Many key groups have already expressed opposition to the ban including:

* Scientists and Bioethicists - 76 scientists and bioethicists from 24
countries have signed a letter in opposition to the proposed ban, stating,
"In our opinion, the passivity argument is biologically naïve, logically
inconsistent, and scientifically untenable."

* Athletes - A poll of 2,800 athletes shows that 85% are in opposition
to the proposed ban. One athlete commented, "Hopefully WADA will be
intelligent enough to drop this. There is a huge doping problem that needs
to be addressed and distractions like this contribute to the credibility
problems that WADA has created, opening doors for dopers to attack the
system as prosecutorial and ridiculous."

* Legal Experts- The Duke University Center for Sports Law and Policy,
states, "The distinction the (WADA) panel draws between 'active' and
'passive' uses of technology fails as a rule to determine whether something
violates "the spirit of sport" because it is overbroad and otherwise
impossible to sustain."

* Medical Experts - In research and in practice altitude tents have
been proven to be safe. Athletes have logged more than 10,000,000 hours of
use with no reports of health problems or side effects. A leading physician
in the field of altitude physiology stated ".there is no evidence that
simulated altitude environments pose any medical risk when properly used."

* Ethicists - Respected ethicists from several countries have written
to WADA stating, "We disagree strongly with the scientific and ethical
aspects of the 'passivity' argument and contend that the use of real or
simulated high altitude environments as adjuncts to training are highly
ethical and consistent with other environmental manipulations widely used in
sport." A presentation in June at the American College of Sports Medicine
Conference in Denver concluded that altitude simulation does not take the
body beyond "authentic physiology" and is ethical.

Technological innovations that stimulate the body's natural physiological
responses are ethical and consistent with the spirit of sports. Altitude
simulation belongs alongside time honored training practices of mountain
training, heat acclimatization, and body cooling technologies. The spirit of
sports is in part the quest for ever greater understanding of the human body
and the attainment of ethical and healthy means for greater and greater
performance.

What is at stake is the future of anti-doping policy. A ban on an ethical,
safe, and popular training method sets a dangerous precedent that makes a
mockery of the term "doping", and risks leading sports into a chaos of
arbitrary and inconsistently applied principles. The credibility and moral
authority of WADA are at risk.

WADA states, "The spirit of sport is the celebration of the human spirit,
body and mind, and is characterized by the following values: ethics, fair
play, and honesty; health; excellence in performance; character and
education; fun and joy; teamwork; dedication and commitment; respect for
rules and laws; respect for self and other participants; courage; and
community and solidarity." We support this statement and believe that
altitude tents, and other environmentally based technologies (heat, air
conditioning, etc.) are consistent with all of these principles as well the
attainment of the Olympic ideal of "Citius, Altius, Fortius". Altitude
simulation technology represents latest progress in the development of
ethical training of the body and promotes principles of fair play and safe
competition.

Please let us know immediately that you oppose this ban by replying to this
email with the following information so we may be organized in our
opposition. We are working with WADA board members who oppose this ban and
who can make your opinion heard. Please respond to
<mailto:info@...> info@...

Name:

Address:

Title:

Phone Number:

Comments:


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



---------------------------------
http://www.veganbodybuilding.org
http://www.veganfitness.net
Yahoo! Groups Links