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 Chapter[ X. Review of the Major League Baseball Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program                                                                                                                            ]

 Section[ B. 4. b. Prohibited Substances ]

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

b. Prohibited Substances

The WADA Code provides for the publication of a list of prohibited substances

that “are prohibited as doping at all times (both in-competition and out-of competition) because

of their potential to enhance [athletic] performance.”543 The list includes categories of banned

541 Letter from Robert D. Manfred, Jr. to Charles P. Scheeler, dated Oct. 30, 2007, at 1.

542 According to Professor McLaren, another collection issue could be the program’s rule

requiring samples of less than 78 milliliters to be discarded. If a player’s sample is smaller, it is

discarded; if second and third samples similarly are smaller than 78 milliliters, those samples

also are discarded and the player is excused from the test for that day. This could permit a

concerned player to evade detection.

543 See WADA, World Anti-Doping Code, § 4.2 (Mar. 2003).

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substances, including anabolic agents (such as steroids), hormones and related substances, agents

with anti-estrogenic activity, and diuretics and other masking agents.544

To provide flexibility to address the newly-developed performance enhancing

substances, the prohibited list bans substances that are not named specifically but that have a

similar chemical structure or similar biological effects. In the case of steroids, the 2007 WADA

prohibited list specifies 51 separate steroids by name but also bans the use of “other substances

with a similar chemical structure or similar biological effect(s).”545

The Major League Baseball joint drug program includes specifically prohibited

steroids. Human growth hormone also is listed as a prohibited substance. The program includes

a different formulation of a catch-all provision, including among the prohibited list “anabolic

steroids that are not covered by Schedule III but that may not be lawfully obtained or used in the

United States (including ‘designer steroids’).”546

Several types of performance enhancing substances that are included on the

WADA prohibited list are not prohibited under the joint program including certain types of

diuretics and other masking agents that can be used by athletes to avoid testing positive.547 Rob

Manfred informed us, however, that each year the Montreal Laboratory provides the

Commissioner’s Office and the Players Association with the updated list of diuretics and

masking agents and tests for them.

544 See WADA, The 2007 Prohibited List for the World Anti-Doping Code, at 2-7

(Sept. 16, 2006).

545 Id. at 3.

546 See Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Treatment and Prevention Program, § 2(B),

at 4-5 (2006).

547 See 2007 WADA Prohibited List, supra note 544, at 6. The joint program also places

the burden of proof on the independent program administrator to show that a player took a

particular masking substance (such as a diuretic) with an intent to avoid accurate testing.

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