Chinese officials have warned
athletes not to use traditional
medicines in their attempts to
recover from injury during the
Beijing Olympics.
Chinese competitors have been
told the remedies could contain
banned substances.
A "danger list" of specific
traditional medicines has also
been produced as authorities try
to avoid a doping scandal among
Chinese athletes, while
medicine-makers have been
ordered to print "athletes use
with caution" on many of their
products.
"In the past many accidents
were caused because athletes
took these herbs not knowing
they could cause problems," a
spokesman for the State Food and
Drug Administration said.
"The reason why we carried
out this work is to realise our
promise. We want to make the
Beijing Olympics fair, open and
clean."
Several doping scandals
dogged in China in the 1990s.
These included Ma Junren, a
coach who boosted his runners'
performances with a traditional
mixture of turtle's blood and
caterpillar fungus.
While the formula was found
to be a mixture of water and
sugar, he and six of his
athletes were removed from the
2000 Olympic squad for suspected
doping.
Last week a Chinese swimmer
tested positive for clenbuterol,
a steroid commonly used on
Chinese pig farms. It is
suspected he accidentally
ingested - rather than injected
- the substance.
Chinese sports officials said
that most athletes had now
replaced the remedies with
protein and vitamin supplements
used by Western athletes.
