The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has released its 2018 List of Prohibited Substances. WADA released the document three months in advance of the start of the year to allow athletes, coaches and other stakeholders to read and familiarize themselves with the changes taking effect on January 1.
The 10-page document outlines prohibited substances, masking agents and prohibited methods that will be in effect during the next calendar year.
In addition to complete Prohibited List, WADA also released its Summary of Modifications and its 2018 Monitoring Program.
For the most part, changes to the 2018 Prohibited List are technical modifications. However, one of the more interesting changes is WADA’s definition of “Gene Doping” has been changed to reflect newer technologies.
In 2018, WADA added, “2. The use of gene editing agents designed to alter genome sequences and/or the transcriptional or epigenetic regulation of gene expression.”
As for the 2018 Monitoring Program, not much has changed. Caffeine, nicotine and codeine are still part of the monitoring program. The only change is that mitragynine has been removed and replaced by hydrocodone.
