CONSUMER
Athletes can check medicines on-line
21-09-2000
by Tom Tuite
Irish athletes can now avail of a free on-line medicine testing service based on the International Olympic Committee's guidelines.
Ennis-based Internet health consultancy site www.eirpharm.com allows athletes to search a range of non-prescription medicines to ensure that taking a common cold or flu medicine will not result in a positive drug test. It also allows athletes to check if their medicine could impair their performance.
"Many Irish sportsmen and women currently use over-the-counter remedies which could result in a positive drug test, or unwittingly hamper performance by impairing physical and mental activity," said Brendan Rochford, an Ennis pharmacist and co-founder of Eirpharm.
The site is funded by founders Rochford, Dr. Audrey Kinahan and Dr. Martin Rochford, on a non-profit basis.
"It is not for profit, the people who are behind the site are health professionals who have decided to pool their medical knowledge to offer this service," said Pauline Ni Fhlatharta, marketing assistant with the Proactive Group, which is hosting and developing the site for Eirpharm.
Eirpharm may, however, qualify for assistance from the Eircom Ennis Information Age Town project. "They have made a submission to us for our Business Champions Programme and if they are accepted they will receive up to IEP15,000 from Eircom. That will cover 50 percent of consultancy funding and 30 percent of implementation costs. Eirpharm could be spending eight times that cost over the next three years," said Rita McInerney, project business liaison officer for the Ennis Information Age Town project.
Drug testing for athletes is one of many health-related facilities available on the site. Eirpharm will broaden its content over time to deal with the latest health issues.
Over the next two months it will be concentrating on alcohol-related illnesses. Travel information, including country-by-country vaccine recommendations, is also available.
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