Canadian Officials Warn Athletes of Banned Drug

November 16, 2010 (Ottawa, ON) – The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) advises athletes and support personnel that supplements containing the banned stimulant methylhexaneamine are widely available in the Canadian market and have been the source of many doping violations worldwide over the last year.

On the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) 2010 and 2011 Prohibited Lists, methylhexaneamine (dimethylpentylamine) is listed as a stimulant, prohibited in-competition. Recently, nine Australian athletes tested positive for methylhexaneamine and face bans of up to two years. Similarly, the use of the stimulant resulted in the loss of two medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Earlier this year, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced that methylhexaneamine was responsible for a series of minor league baseball bans.

The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) reported a case in January 2010 where an athlete received a six-month ban for the presence of methylhexaneamine in his sample. USADA confirmed that a supplement consumed by the athlete contained methylhexaneamine, although it was not listed as an ingredient on the label.

In Canada, methylhexaneamine is not an ingredient in medications licensed by Health Canada but can be found in party pills and supplements. It is found most commonly, but not exclusively, in fat-burning supplements and those marketed to body builders.

Methylhexaneamine is known by various names including:
– methylhexaneamine OR methylhexanamine
– 1,3-dimethylpentylamine OR pentylamine
1,3-dimethylamylamine OR DMAA
– Geranamine
– Floradrene
– 2-hexanamine, 4-methyl- OR 2-hexanamine, 4-methyl- (9CI) OR 4-methyl-2-hexanamine OR 4-methyl-2-hexylamine
– 4-methylhexan-2-amine OR 2-amino-4-methylhexane
– Forthan OR Forthane OR 1,3-dimethylamylamineforthane
– C7H17N

The CCES has issued many warnings about supplements over the years, including one in 2009 about this same substance. Athletes who choose to use supplements must be very careful about the source and purpose of their products. Under the rules of the Canadian Anti-Doping Program and the World Anti-Doping Code, athletes are strictly liable for any substance found in their doping control sample, regardless of how it got there.

The CCES is an independent, national, non-profit organization. Our mission, to foster ethical sport for all Canadians, is carried out through research, promotion, education, detection and deterrence, as well as through programs and partnerships with other organizations.

Source: SkiTrax