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  Kouchner's call French health minister wants to debate the use of drugs
Posted: Sunday July 19, 1998 05:06 PM
PARIS (CNN/SI) -- In response to the drug scandal surrounding the premier cycling event of the year, the Tour de France, Bernard Kouchner, the French health minister, called Sunday for a debate on the use of banned substances to enhance athletes' performances. "We should all together debate what is lawful and what is not lawful," Bernard Kouchner said in an interview with France Info radio. The scandal prompted French President Jacques Chirac on Saturday to urge the eradication of the use of drugs that enhance performance. Kouchner, whose father was a doctor on the Tour de France 30 years ago, reminded listeners that alcohol had been used to improve performances by cyclists on the Tour and that in the past deaths had resulted from that practice. "Ever since there has been cycle racing there has been doping. And since the show has become more and more profitable, there is more and more doping," said Kouchner. Calling the cyclists "slaves," Kouchner blamed sponsors, newspapers, media and companies for pushing the riders into drugs to achieve performances that would be impossible without them. "It's a commercial enterprise," Kouchner said referring to the tour. The director of this years Tour de France, Jean-Marie Leblanc expelled the Festina team Friday from this year's race because of a doping scandal. Three team officials are under investigation for procuring performance-enhancing drugs.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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