Premium Essay

EPO In Sports

Submitted By
Words 428
Pages 2
In a world of professional athletes, they are all very competitive and some will do whatever it takes to get an edge up on other competitors. Many professional athletes have been known to take performance enhancing drugs. However, marathoners and cyclist use a drug called erythropoietin(EPO). Johnson tells us that EPO is “a hormone produced by the kidneys that increases the production of red blood cells. EPO produces more red blood cells, which leads to a higher oxygen-carrying cap (Johnson, 2016, pg. 121). Taking EPO will allow the competitors to have a high level of performance longer. I do believe that the elevated red blood cells in one’s system could be dangerous to their cardiovascular health. If the wrong dosage is taken, the hematocrit can thicken the blood and cause a heart attack. The risk of taking EPO to win is way too big. First you could die or be disqualified and then the reason why would also come out which could tarnish an athlete’s name. In other words, there are no benefits to using drug-enhancers. …show more content…
However, I do believe they should be tested on a regular basis to ensure everyone is on a level playing field. Younger athlete’s bodies may not can the elevated levels in their body and could be putting themselves at an even higher risk. Brian Krans tells us, “Conservative estimates show that roughly 5 percent of students report using the most dangerous drugs — anabolic androgenic steroids and human growth hormone (HGH) — sometime in their lives” (Krans, 2016, para.

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Drugs in Sport

... Drugs in sport is an ongoing problem which I believe will never be completely abolished from the sporting world. We have definitely come a long way since the early days of drug use with the introduction of governing bodies such ad WADA to help control the testing of athletes and the detection of illegal substances, however I do not think we will be able to completely remove this ’drug culture’ from the sporting world. Therefore having experienced first-hand the drug testing practices involved in detection after competing in the world youth championships this year I was interested to look into the motivation behind athletes who choose to cheat and risk their future career both athletically and their career after retirement having been branded as a 'cheat’ within their sport. I will do this by looking into the history of drug use in sport and the enhancements the drugs provide to performance to try to understand why athletes risk their careers to simply win. Contents | | Abstract | 2 | Introduction | 2 | Drugs in sport; a modern problem? | 3 | Drugs in sport: what are they? * Amphetamines * Anabolic steroids * EPO * Diuretics * Caffeine | 3-6 | Drugs in sport: health risks | 6-7 | Drugs in sport: detection and punishment | 7- | Drugs in sport: why cheat? | | | | Drugs in sport: case studies * Lance Armstrong * Dwain chambers | | Bibliography | ...

Words: 3937 - Pages: 16

Premium Essay

Physiological Effects of Blood Doping

...the Olympic games on national television, they do not even realize the impact this team and coach are about to leave on sports history for years to come. This year, not only did the United States cycling team claim one medal, but rather nine of them, including four golds. Following the games, Coach Eddy received a large amount of praise and was even awarded the title “Man of the Year” by the United States Cycling Federation (USCF). To the world’s surprise, a scandal was about to be unveiled. Robert Lea, president of USCF, sent a letter to members of the board, in which he stated his resignation from his position as president because investigation showed that the United States coaching staff “blood doped” some of the Olympic cyclists. But what was blood doping, and why was it such an issue? Blood doping is the practice of increasing the number of red blood cells (by artificial means) in the bloodstream. With an increase of red blood cells, more oxygen can be carried from the lungs to the muscles, which can improve aerobic capacity. This blood doping procedure gained notoriety in the sports world because of what it can do for athletes during endurance events and the jeopardizing effects it could have on the cardiovascular system. Basically, in order for muscles to perform they need a need a ready supply of oxygen. This is especially true in endurance sports. For example—Jake, a non blood doper is a marathon runner. During high intensity runs, his oxygen...

Words: 2468 - Pages: 10

Free Essay

Erythropoietin

...Essay on Erythropoietin Section B examples: 1. Write an essay on erythropoiesis. Answer points: description or summary of the stages of RBC formation in bone marrow; possible consequences of the appearance of immature forms in the blood. Describe regulation by EPO. Outline of what EPO is, its induction by hypoxia, EPO receptors and responses generated. Clinical uses for EPO (recombinant EPO), doping. Erythropoietin (EPO) is a highly glycosylated hormone produced predominantly in the kidneys; 90 % of its production occurs here. EPO stimulates the quick production of red blood cells (RBC). EPO has a mass of 38kDa and is produced on demand as it is not stored anywhere in the body. Production of EPO is depended on the oxygen levels in the body. Production of EPO is initiated by low oxygen levels because of which it is said to be hypoxia dependent. This EPO and hypoxia link is proven by an altitude-oxygen partial pressure graph. As the altitude increases, the partial pressure of oxygen in the air decreases. This causes an increase in EPO production to raise the RBC levels in the blood. RBC formation happens through a process known as erythropoiesis in the bone marrow, more precisely the red bone marrow. On a daily basis this process produces around x1012 number of RBC. Over time the red marrow turns into a yellow marrow. Yellow marrow has a significantly lower rate of erythropoiesis occurring within it, therefore RBC production reduced in the later stages of life...

Words: 534 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Erth

...1. Erythropoietin, called EPO, has become a drug used illegally by some athletes. Which athletes use EPO, that is, in what kind of sports? What benefits are they hoping for? What part of a CBC would indicate that an athlete is taking EPO? Explain. Blood doping is an illicit method of improving athletic performance by artificially boosting the blood's ability to bring more oxygen to muscles. In many cases, blood doping increases the amount of hemoglobin in the bloodstream. Hemoglobin is an oxygen-carrying protein in the blood. So increasing hemoglobin allows higher amounts of oxygen to reach and fuel an athlete's muscles. This can improve stamina and performance, particularly in long-distance events, such as running and cycling. Blood doping is banned by the International Olympic Committee and other sports organizations (webmd) By increasing the number of red blood cells, blood doping causes the blood to thicken. This thickening forces the heart to work harder than normal to pump blood throughout the body. As a result, blood doping raises the risk of: • blood clot • heart attack • stroke Blood doping via transfusion carries additional risks. Tainted blood can spread infectious diseases such as: • HIV • hepatitis B • hepatitis C Over time, repeated blood transfusions can cause a dangerous buildup of iron in the body. Improperly stored blood and improperly administered transfusions can cause acute lung injury and bacterial infection. Blood transfusions also have potential side...

Words: 343 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Anabolic Steroid Analysis

...growth and repair. Anabolic refers to processes in the body that covert simple substances into more complex compounds (Uretsky, 2006). Anorexia Athletica A disorder of compulsive exercising. People tend to be more obsessed with maintaining abnormally low body fat percentage than with body weight (Davidson & Porter, 2013). Blood doping The use of products that enhance the uptake, transport, or delivery of oxygen to the blood. Blood is taken out a few months before competition and then packed, frozen, and stored. A few days before competition, the blood is returned to the body to increase the red blood count by up to 20% (Blood Doping, 2007). Erythropoietin (EPO) A hormone that stimulates bone marrow to produce more red blood cells, which contain hemoglobin that helps transport oxygen to the body (EPO, 2007). Specific Sports Major League Baseball (MLB) In the MLB, there was major PED use, specifically anabolic steroids, from the mid-1980’s to the early 2000’s. There were many forces and pressures that pushed players into steroid use. Former MLB player Ken Caminiti began taking steroids in 1996 to help accelerate recovery from a shoulder injury and had a career year by finishing with 40 home runs and 130 runs batted in, which were 14 and 36 more, respectively, than he had any other year. He was quoted in an interview saying he “fast, [but] had never been fast. Steroids made me like that” (Solberg and Ringer, 2011). He attributed his success in the season to the steroids he...

Words: 1320 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Why We Should Regulate Doping in Sports

...article "How to Think About Our Steroid Supermen" he discusses the use of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) in sports and how the use of these drugs is unethical because it goes against the sportsmanship spirit of the game. Rozansky also talks about the many ways doping is dangerous and can compromise the health of the athletes involved. He states his opinion that doping in sports sends a bad message to children-that drugs make champions. While these are valid points, However, if PEDs in sports were allowed and regulated, not only would it help the athletes improve performance, it would also make doping safer for the athletes as limits could be set on how much an athlete can use/have in their system. By regulating doping in professional sports, not only would this help keep athletes from injuring themselves, it also has the potential of improving the entertainment of spectating the sports by leveling the playing field even more and allowing for even greater spectacular feats to occur. Lance Armstrong was a role model. Not only did he survive cancer, despite having brain and lung metastases, he came back to win the most grueling race in sports, the Tour de France, a record 7 times. He was an icon, but that time has passed. In Rozansky's article he argues that Lance, and other athletes like him, by choosing to use performance-enhancing drugs choose to participate not in sports but in a spectacle that bears only a mocking resemblance to true athletic achievement. As such, we cannot...

Words: 1081 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Sumary Response Essay

...“An alarming number of sports—baseball, football, track and field, and especially cycling—have been shaken by doping scandals in recent years,” reports Scientific American (Schermer, 2008). The performance enhancing drugs are becoming needed good for some athletes in order to succeed. There is a tremendous clash of ideas, what path we should take in according to these types of drugs. The million-dollar question is to legalize them or not. In “Good sport, bad sport” published in The Age, Julian Savalescu and Bennett Foddy (2004) argue that the use of performance enhancing drugs should be legalized in sports because it is not “against the spirit of sport.” First of all, the authors introduce the issue of using drugs in sports as something that has been around for a long period of time, even in the Ancient Olympics. Savalescu and Foddy then explain that the elimination of drug use in sports is failing. They say the athletes’ desire to win is a lot of times stronger than staying clean. In addition, Savalescu and Foddy argue that performance enhancing drugs do not doubt the spirit of sport. In their view, making human biology more effective symbolizes the human spirit. They say that sports are about striving to be better, and drugs allow athletes to do that. Savalescu and Foddy also claim that sports today are aimed against people without genetic predispositions to be the best, and so taking drugs would equalize people with different genetic predispositions. In their opinion, the...

Words: 1758 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

Drug Abuse

...strength and endurance by any athlete that  uses them correctly.  I believe that this stimulating drug should be legal in sports everywheres  because all it does is make you stronger!    San Francisco's former baseball player Barry Bonds, was “convicted for lying under oath  about using performance­enhancing drugs.”(Johnson,476) Bonds said that he was given steroids  without his knowledge, says that he thought he was given flax seed oil and cream to help ease  muscle ache. Known for his record of home runs hit in his Major League career, but in order to  hit home runs, the player needs to make contact! Steroids did not improve how Barry barrelled  up the ball, he did himself. He also put on 45 pounds of muscle within 3 years, which is another  sign of steroid use. The use of performance­enhancing drugs should be legal and used by  athletes. If you think about it, records will be broken, and sports ratings will rise drastically! As a  baseball fan, I would love to see this happen, along with the rest of the sports world.     Savell  1    Lance Armstrong, the world’s best cyclist known to mankind, admitted to  performance­enhancing drugs such as EPO, testosterone, cortisone, steroids, and blood doping. If  you don’t know what EPO (erythropoietin) is, it’s a hormone developed by the human body to  make more red blood cells. Using EPO will increase the amount of oxygen to the user's muscles,  this will also help them gain endurance...

Words: 1019 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Media Mass

...The Causes and Effects of Doping in Sport Hou Juin Yew, Calvin B1201067 HELP University Outline I. Introduction A. Opener : The history of doping in sports B. Thesis statement: There are few causes that is undergone family problems, huge amount of debts, cope with a live of stress and face a lot of pain during training and few effects that lead in to problems in body function and mental effects. II. The causes of why athletes dope in sports. A. Family problems B. Huge amount of debts C. Live of stress D. A lot of pain in training III. The effect in the body function of a person when a person dope in sport. A. The uses of steroid in sports 1. The diseases when dope in sports 2. The body function of a person B. The uses of stimulants in sports 1. The type of drugs and the problems C. The uses of peptide hormones 1. Type of peptide hormone and the effects of the substances IV. The effect in the mental problems A. The type of disease that effect the mental problems V. Conclusions The Causes and Effects of Doping in Sport Doping in sport is means the use of drug to increase the performance of an athletic above average in an athletic competition...

Words: 2223 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Why Did Lance Armstrong Use Drugs

...(“Hero”) Even though doping was banned, the sport is still extremely painful and there is still roughly eighty six percent of competitors that still try to use drugs and get away with it. An athlete's goals was to dope and hope they did not get caught. (“Hero”) Which leads into the case of Lance Armstrong and his drug scandal. He was doping and hoping that he was not going to be caught. Lance Armstrong is an amazing athlete. He has won seven Tour De France titles and also trains for triathlons. Not only is he a good athlete, he has also overcome testicular cancer. (“Hero”) How the whole scandel started is when, Lance Armstrong would meet up in a hotel outside of town with a doctor. The doctor would take some of his blood and resupply him with new blood which was equipped with more oxygen. What this does is with the more oxygen flowing through your blood it produces better stamina which gives you better endurance so you can keep on going for a longer period of time. (“ Doping”) There was a suspicion that not only Lance was using the drugs, but the rest of the USA cycling team might have been using the drugs too. Lance Armstrong was caught using drugs in 2006. They drug tested him and find out that he was using testosterone booster and EPO. There were stories told that the team would carry around...

Words: 1351 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Managing Your Boss

... Miguel Professor of Organizational Behavior miguel@unc.edu ©2013 Mabel Miguel Road Map for Today • Motivation and the EPO framework: – Definitions and Examples – Hausser Foods Case • A more detailed look at the application of EPO – Five common problem areas applying EPO 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Opportunity & Ability Goal Setting / Expectations Feedback Metrics and Equity Incentives and Rewards If a pretty poster and a cute saying are all it takes to motivate you, you probably have a very easy job. The kind robots will be doing soon. • Application to own challenges 2 What Factors Influence Employee Performance? • Turn to your neighbors • Take 2 min to: – Generate a list of factors that affect employee performance The Takeaway:  Many (or most) of the factors that influence employee performance are controlled by management  Thus, the performance of your subordinates is mostly in your hands and the key question becomes: How do I lead & motivate members of my organization so that they perform well? 3 Relationship of Motivation and Performance • Motivation: Desire to put effort toward achieving a goal – Direction (what should I do?) – Intensity (how hard should I work?) – Persistence (how long should I work?) • This often results in higher… – Performance: quality of work produced – Productivity: quantity of work produced 4 EPO: How Individuals Determine Effort (Direction, Intensity & Persistence) Effort Q1: (E-P) If I put forth effort, will I succeed...

Words: 4307 - Pages: 18

Free Essay

Drugs and Substances

...choose to investigate. • Prohibited drugs that are banned in the use of sports • WADA is responsible to update (updated annually) & maintain this list • Some are only banned during the sports but are allowed after such as an inhaler • In order for a drug to be prohibited, the substance has to meet at least two of these three criteria: - the potential for enhanced performance - the potential for being detrimental to health - violation of the spirit of the sport • in some cases the athlete could have pre existing medical conditions. In this case they can apply to their International Federation for a Therapeutic Use Exemption, which must be verified by their physician. In order to be accepted the following must be true: - the athlete would suffer significant health problems if they do not take the medication - there is no suitable alternative which is not listed - there are no considerable performance enhancing benefits • substances that are banned at ALL times (including training and during): - anabolic steroids (increase protein to build up cellular tissue) including THG—why? To make them stronger. It will give strength to a certain point then after that they are building not making more, they are no longer making strength but just building size. - Hormones (a chemical released by one or more cells that affects cells in one or more parts of the organism) including: o Erythropoietin (EPO) o Human growth hormone (hGH) o Insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) o...

Words: 402 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Economics of Doping

...1. Institutional Framework7 1.1. Embeddedness7 1.2. Institutional Environment9 1.2.1. Formal Institutions9 1.2.2. Informal institution – the doping market112 1.3. Governance14 1.4. Resource Allocation and Employment16 2. Decision-making process16 2.1. Prize money and Doping17 2.2. Health and Doping22 2.3. Size of Punishment and Probability of Detection 23 2.3.1. Doping game: introduction26 2.3.2. Theoretical example using real numbers 30 2.4. Number of participants and Doping 34 2.5. Conclusion 37 3. Policy advices38 3.1. Efficiency Comparison 38 3.2. Application of Criminal Law 41 Conclusion42 Bibliography44 Appendix A: Interview with Filippo Simeoni49 Appendix B: Interview with Axel Dekker55 Abstract Sports victories are often strived to at the cost of sportsmen’s integrity, reputation, health, security, or even life. The tendency to use performance-enhancing drugs is shaped by factors characterizing the institutional framework. In particular, the prize money, health costs, severity and frequency of punishment, and number of participants are expected to play a crucial role in the decision making process of an athlete concerning doping, therefore their significance will be shown empirically. This will lead to the designing of the policy necessary to create a level playing field in professional cycling. Turns out that a mix of increased controls, review of the list of prohibited substances, and application of criminal law in doping...

Words: 19471 - Pages: 78

Premium Essay

Controversy As A Role Model For Professional Athletes

...According to the New Oxford American Dictionary character is defined as the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual. Being in the sports world, athletes are role models for younger children. Children dream to be like Lindsey Vonn, Michael Jordan, Stephen Curry, and many others like those people. But some athletes in major league sports have reshaped their character of the actions they chose to make. Is competition slowly carving away their character and making them look bad simply to be on top? By the actions of athletes today, it is showing that this true. As a professional athlete you have to stay at the top of your game at all times. There is always a chance to be taken over by the “rookie” of the group. Some people take...

Words: 509 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Ethical Issues Regarding the Use of Performance Enhancing Drugs in Sports

...Ethical issues regarding the use of Performance Enhancing Drugs in Sports In the history of 20th century sports, specifically in the post World War 2 era, there has been an ever increasing use of performance enhancing drugs in all avenues of sport. Sports have become money making machine for both athletes and big business and the “win at all costs” attitude which has permeated itself into all aspects of professional and college level athletics. Winners make money, losers don’t. The temptation of fame, notoriety and million dollar contracts in all venues of sport is a lure for many athletes. Elite professional athletes are worshiped in today’s society. This paper will elaborate on the use of performance enhancing drugs in the sporting world and the associated sports ethical issues. It is a majority belief in all sporting circles that the “true” spirit of sportsmanship does not allow any aspect of performance enhancing drugs. There are several arguments both in favor and against the use of performance enhancing drugs which will be presented and discussed in this paper. While addressing this ethical issue, we need to define the term ethics. Ethics can be defined as the socially accepted norms and values. These norms and values are varied from society to society and are based on culture and tradition. Ethics also could be defined as the unsaid, un-written and understood laws that prevail in a society. Ethics also cover what is right and what is wrong in society and teaches...

Words: 4511 - Pages: 19