from Amazon
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The test for unfair PED
WADA says:
According to WADA president John Fahey, the agency’s criteria for banning a substance
(1) is whether it gives a competitive edge,
(2) is potentially injurious to health and
(3) is against the spirit of sport.
In Fahey’s opinion, caffeine failed all three of those tests and he told The Age newspaper he intends to ask the agency’s medical committee to consider a new ban when it meets in September.
That’s a good enough criteria to judge something. The key point is #2: where to draw that line. Corrective eye surgery, for example, could cause your eyes to be worse, even make you go blind I presume. What is the “injurious to health” rate there? If it’s say 5%, then that’s one potential line.
I look at things like what the Special Olympians use, who get those cool replacement legs. It satisfies criteria 1, it may fail criteria 3 (I don’t think it does), but it definitely fails criteria 2. So, bionic parts of your body (that is, it’s not an extra limb, but a replacement limb) should allow those human beings to be recognized.
I like it. I like the rules, it gives a framework for discussion and debate, rather than the loose-knit discussions where everyone is shooting their pistols without any idea what the target is.