The World Anti-Doping Agency "may consider longer bans for athletes who have used banned substances if research on steroid longevity proves valid," according to the BBC. Research conducted on mice in Oslo suggests that "some drugs could benefit athletes after their bans expire." WADA "welcomed the findings" from University of Oslo Physiology Professor Kristian Gundersen. But WADA Science Director Olivier Rabin said, "We need proof we can transfer such results to humans." The research suggests that "muscles can retain the advantages given by anabolic steroids decades after the point at which they were taken." It "could also have major implications for the existing anti-doping system, where a first-time offender is unlikely to be suspended for more than two years and may well serve less than half that." Rabin said, "In the future, if these results do demonstrate there is an issue beyond two or four years we will bring it to the attention of the members of our committees. ... We can do a lot of things with mice that we cannot do with humans" (BBC, 10/7).
