WADA widens the net on performance-enhancing drugs, approves new banned list for 2011

WADA widens net on performance-enhancing drugs

LONDON — The World Anti-Doping Agency has widened the net on performance-enhancing drugs by creating a new class of banned substances that includes drugs sold on the black market before approval by the pharmaceutical industry.

WADA has also reduced the classification of a stimulant involved in a dozen doping cases in India, opening the chance for some athletes to be cleared to compete in next month’s Commonwealth Games.

At a meeting in Montreal last weekend, WADA’s executive committee approved a new banned list for 2011 that will take effect on Jan. 1.

The most significant change is the addition of a new section on “non-approved substances,” a move to combat cheating with drugs that are still under clinical development by medical companies.