A few days ago, I linked to Paul Hsieh’s op-ed about FDA interference with your right to get information about your own DNA. If that didn’t convince you that the FDA has gone completely off the rails, this will:
The U.S. criminal investigation, which is being led by the Food and Drug Administration … is designed to potentially bring charges against any team leaders and team directors who may have facilitated or encouraged doping by their riders.
And what sort of “doping” are these power mad bureaucrats investigating? Professional cyclists are allegedly receiving transfusions of their own blood!
Transfusions, which enhance performance by boosting a rider’s red-blood cell count, are considered cheating by the International Cycling Union, the sport’s governing body.
This is what is allegedly going on: World class cyclists train at high altitudes and, every so often, bank some blood which is later transfused back into them between stages of big races—-particularly the Tour de France.
To call a transfusion of your own blood “doping” is a tad surreal. But, more to the point, this is about a rule set down by an INTERNATIONAL committtee about CYCLING. Why the hell is the FDA involved in this?
Answer: mission creep. Bureaucrats get their greasy little fingers in as many pies as possible to ensure their survival. This is why the federal work force is metastasizing while the rest of the economy is shrinking.
The federal government is completely out of control, and the problem has grown exponentially under the Obama regime. We need to get these apparatchiks on a leash before they gobble up the entire country.
Comments 2
Um, this is about the US Postal Service team using medications that were under clinical trials, and not officially released for use by *anyone*, and transporting said medications from the USA to various countries in Europe.
On the surface, it’s about doping in cycling. Underneath it’s about smuggling prescription drugs that were in development across international borders. They met at the HQ of Interpol, not the UCI.
Lance Armstrong keeps talking about Floyd Landis, but the actual investigation is far beyond Landis’ allegations now.
So, do you think the FDA has jurisdiction over the illegal export of prescription drugs? If not them, then who?
Posted 28 Nov 2010 at 10:40 pm ¶Um … Roxanne … This is not about “prescription drugs.” It’s about blood transfusions.
Getting a transfusion of your own banked blood may violate the rules of international cycling, but it has nothing to do with “medications” or the FDA.
Posted 28 Nov 2010 at 11:00 pm ¶Post a Comment