The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will add the non-diagnostic use of carbon monoxide to its prohibited methods list from next year, the organisation said.
The gas is used in low doses to help measure critical blood metrics in athletes, especially haemoglobin levels, but there have been suggestions that repeated inhalation can be used to improve athletic performance.
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The International Cycling Union (UCI) has banned the use of carbon monoxide outside of a medical facility, and in a press release on Wednesday WADA said its use could increase erythropoiesis – the process of creating new red blood cells.
“The use of carbon monoxide for diagnostic purposes, such as total haemoglobin mass measurements or the determination of pulmonary diffusion capacity, is not prohibited,” WADA added.
“The current wording was chosen to differentiate between illicit use and the intake resulting from natural combustion processes (e.g. smoking), the environment (e.g. exhaust gases) or diagnostic procedures.”
An investigation published by website Escape Collective during this year’s Tour de France alleged several teams used carbon monoxide rebreather devices to optimise altitude training.
