FIFA Very Concerned About African Stimulant Plants

We’re about four months out from the start of the World Cup, so let’s hope this isn’t the start of a run on stories about how terrible South Africa will be as a host nation, and instead is nothing more than an isolated story about how some plants that grow in Africa can get you doped up higher than the moon. This should be a fun World Cup.↵↵Per the Associated Press, FIFA has become very concerned about some of the plants that are grown in certain African nations – the story points out Ghana as one in particular – and how their medicinal qualities may closely resemble otherwise-banned performance enhancing drugs. FIFA is so concerned, the report indicates, that they want WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency, to get involved.↵

↵↵⇥“I have a big concern - and I can confess that. We were learning a lot about the traditional African medicines and we are not sure what all of these products contain,” [FIFA medical committee chairman Michael] D’Hooghe said. “I think some products are not detectable. This makes it difficult. They can deliver stimulation and diuretic activity.”↵⇥↵⇥“We received a lot of examples, going from things that we know but also going into absolutely unknown things for me. If I don’t know the names, how can I know what they contain,” D’Hooghe said of the plants. “This is certainly a challenge for WADA ... this could be a big challenge for football because we try to live in a football world without doping.↵⇥

↵⇥↵⇥“If we don’t have control over these specific traditional medicines, then we can’t say we have control over all the medication in football.”↵⇥

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There is a whole philosophical debate about what a performance enhancer really is. FIFA is talking about plant derivatives that African doctors have traditionally used in medicine, and some feel that if it is grown naturally, it’s fair game to use, no different than an orange (or red pepper, by the way) gives you a boost of vitamin C. Two examples named in the report are Umhlabelo, made of dried leaves from the Nidorella plant that helps bone and muscle health, and the Hoodia plant (pictured), an appetite suppressant that can also provide an energy boost. You can guzzle all the caffeine you can handle to give you more pep in your proverbial step, but you can’t chew on a couple of plant leaves to make your bones feel better. That doesn’t seem right.↵↵Back to the report: The AP spoke with two African team doctors who stressed to their players to not take these “traditional” medicines, even though they are undetectable by WADA.↵

↵↵⇥D’Hooghe thinks the US$30 million spent annually on 33,000 doping tests could be better spent on youth education since there are only about 10 positive results.↵⇥↵⇥D’Hooghe said he believes there is “no doping culture” among the 260 million footballers worldwide.↵⇥

↵↵The question that isn’t raised in this piece is what all the African nations have been doing for the last however-many years to enhance performance. Forget about the World Cup and doping, how much all-natural performance enhancement has gone on in Africa? Is this new technology that found some plants have steroid-like qualities, or has this practice gone on for years, undetected by WADA and FIFA? If African players have used these plants as performance enhancers for a long time, how much does that change about the sport on an international level? And while D’Hooghe doesn’t suspect a “doping culture” in international football, how would he know, given that he admitted he doesn’t even know the names of some of the drugs they could be taking.↵↵And where can American athletes get some of this action? I’m sure there are a host of baseball players who would happily turn in their sunflower seeds for some dried Umhlabelo.↵

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