In article <[email hidden]>, Tom Kunich
Quoted message said:Warren, EPO is a naturally occurring hormone that all but a few very rare and short lived people
have in their bodies. The body has a very high tolerance for this stuff for several reasons. But
the important thing is that it has been used in megadoses for very ill cancer patients and
athletes have been using it in very high doses as well. There are certain families that are
missing a gene that controls the body's production of EPO and so we know that there is a very high
tolerance to the stuff.
They may be choosing the lesser of two evils. Wouldn't you?
Quoted message said:There can be no allergic effect to hEPO or else you'd already have died.
So the injected form of EPO behaves exactly the same as the EPO already in you?
Who said death was the effect we're concerned about? What about Stuart's comments about the effect
on your body's ability to maintain iron balance. Perhaps there are other effects just like when
someone circumvents their body's regulation of testosterone or dozens of other chemicals. You're
familiar with the "side effects" of some drugs on our physiology. Why was Pantani's natural EPO
regulation so screwed up during his hospital visit? How is it now? Like many things in the
pharmacology of sports the people who know the answers aren't writing about it.
Quoted message said:I was relieved when the UCI set a hematocrit limit instead of relying on an EPO blood test. EPO is
voided from the body quite rapidly and the marked rhEPO only is detectable for a couple of days.
However, since the danger sign is excessively high red blood cell count, limiting this to the high
end of the natural hematocrit pretty much eliminates EPO as a health threat to racers. And it also
makes it possible for athletes who wish to stay clean to have the same hematocrit as cheaters just
by high altitude training. 2 birds with one stone.
I used to think that way too.
Ferrari said that EPO was more convenient because the rider could stay at his normal home with his
family, could sleep normally, and this whole procedure was more effective at maintaining the rider's
normal recuperation from training and racing.
His rationale was that a rider will ask him, Will EPO help me race my bike better? Yes. Do you know
if EPO will harm me in the long term? I don't know. Is there a risk with EPO? Yes. And the rider
will say that if he doesn't take EPO he will have to go drive a truck or work in a factory and he
could be killed doing that so EPO is the better choice.
Quoted message said:You can look it up on Medline if you like.
Look what up? A long-term study done on athletes using EPO?
-WG
