Dispatches from SupplySide West
USADA chief explains dietary supplement ‘confidence killers’
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.
