Brussels, 15/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - According to a survey undertaken in Belgium, Germany, Italy and Portugal, and presented to the press on Wednesday by Commissioner Viviane Reding, close to 6% of users of fitness centres admit to having regularly used medicines to improve their performances. This first trans-national survey on doping in fitness centres (that also contains information on the situation in Austria and Switzerland) aims to tackle the problem of doping in amateur sports, with special attention to the young. "Combating doping in professional sporting circles is accepted, but nobody speaks of it in amateur circles", Viviane Reding explained, adding that this survey was not an isolated case. According to the Commissioner, a survey in April 2000 commissioned by the French Government revealed at 3 to 5% of amateur sports children and adolescents were doped. For its part, the British Medical Association recently pulled the alarm bell on the scale of the black market in drugs in both amateur and professional sports.
The survey notes that it is those people who frequent fitness centres the most assiduously who use most doping products, independently of their social category. The consequences of these medicines provoke important secondary effects: acne, increase in secretions, bleeding noses, heart palpitations, effects on sexuality, aggressive behaviour. The survey places emphasis on the scale of the black market: 100 million euro a year for doping products in Germany alone. For food supplements, sometimes contaminated by doping substances, "that represents billions of euro a year," Reding stipulates.
"The problem is that the content of these products is not indicated on the boxes, thus people do not always know that they are consuming dangerous and illegal products", she explains, stressing "the lack of harmonisation in the matter, "as some of these dangerous products are not banned in all countries". Other problem, their sale over the Internet. In Germany alone, fifteen sites propose over 250 doping products (anabolic substances, stimulants, food supplements, anti-oestrogens). "This raises the problem of controlling the content of the Internet", Viviane Reding explains.
The survey, undertaken by the Home Affairs Ministry of Lower-Saxony, proposes actions at different levels:
1) official enquiries, every three years, in all Member states of the EU on doping in fitness centres and comparative studies in school and university circles (notably 12-18 year olds);
2) prevention in the field of the certification of fitness centres, information and involvement of personnel in prevention;
3) the harmonisation of labelling of doping products and food supplements so that users know whether they are dealing with dangerous products;
4) making acquisition of these products more difficult;
5) creation of an Internet site informing of the possible dangers of these substances;
6) education of amateur sportspeople so that they choose healthy and balanced food;
7) the promotion of quality labels and more systematic control of the contents of food supplements.
Vivane Reding will present an action plan by the end of the year on combating doping. The main aspects of this plan, with recommends a partnership with national measures and sports federations, will be presented on Thursday and Friday to the EU ministers of Sports at their informal meeting in Almeria (South-East Spain) on 16 and 17 May. At that meeting, the Commission will also broach the role of the EU within the World Anti-Doping Agency.