China moves to take “Gee, I didn’t know it was banned” out of the doped-up Olympic athlete’s bag of excuses. From Xinhua:
Drugstores were told not to sell such medicine without tags that read “athletes cautious” on the package, said Wu Zhen, vice director the State Food and Drug Administration at a press conference on the sidelines of the parliament session.
Only approved pharmaceutical plants and wholesalers are allowed to produce and wholesale protein assimilation preparations and peptide hormones, the official said.
The Chinese law also forbids the sales of protein assimilation preparations except insulin or the sales of peptide hormones, Wu added.
The article goes on to quote Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee officials as saying the 2008 Games will feature more drug tests than any Olympic competition in history.
The news follows conflicting reports (see here and here) late last year as to whether Olympic athletes would not be allowed to use traditional medicine.
