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Many Scientists Take Performance Enhancing Drugs

Posted on: Thursday, 10 April 2008, 11:35 CDT

In a survey released Wednesday by Britain’s top science journal, twenty percent of scientists who responded to the survey admitted to using performance-enhancing medications for non-medical reasons. 

The online query centered around the drugs  methylphenidate (Ritalin), a stimulant normally used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder but also well-known as a 'study aid'; modafinil (Provigil), prescribed to treat sleep disorders; and beta blockers, drugs prescribed for cardiac arrhythmia that also have an anti-anxiety effect.

The survey was posted on the “Nature Network” Web forum, a discussion site for scientists managed by the Nature Publishing Group. The results were released Wednesday in the journal Nature. 

Of the 1,427 scientists who responded, most of whom were within the United States, 288 admitted to having taken one or more of the three drugs for non-medical purposes. Three-fifths had used Ritalin, nearly half Provigil, and 15 percent had used beta blockers.  

Overall, 57 percent of the survey’s respondents were 35 years old or younger.

"These are academics working in scientific institutions," said Ruth Francis, who handles press relations for the group, in an interview with AFP.

The vast majority of scientists who said they took these drugs said they did so to "improve concentration," with 60 percent responding that they took the medications on a daily or weekly basis.   More than a third of the respondents said that they would feel pressure to give their children such drugs if other kids at school were also taking them.

"It doesn't seem to be causing too much trouble since most [students] use the drugs not to get high but to function better," said Brian Doyle, a clinical psychiatrist at Georgetown University Medical Centre, in a U.S. newspaper interview last month.

"When exams are over, they go back to normal and stop abusing the drugs,” he said.

However, other experts were more alarmed about the survey’s results.

"It alerted us to the fact that scientists, like others, are looking for short cuts," Wilson Compton, director of epidemiology and prevention research at the U.S. National Institute for Drug Abuse (NIDA), told AFP.

He noted Ritalin in particular could become addictive, even though the drug has been found safe and effective if taken exactly as prescribed.

More than a third of those who said they used the medications had secured the drugs over the Internet, with the rest buying them in a pharmacy.

Other reasons cited by the scientists for using the drugs were the need to focus on a specific task, and to counteract jet lag.

Almost 70 percent of the 1,258 respondents who answered the question said they would be willing to risk mild side effects in order to "boost their brain power” by taking cognitive-enhancing drugs.  Half of the drug-takers reported such effects, including headaches, jitteriness, anxiety and sleeplessness.

NIDA’s Wilson was surprised at the rate of substance abuse revealed by the survey, although he added that the survey did not meet rigorous scientific standards.

"This is a volunteer poll of people responding to an Internet survey. There might be an over-representation," he said.

However, previous research has found that as the boundary between treating illness and enhancing wellbeing continues to blur, taking performance-boosting products continues to gain popular acceptance.

"Like the rise in cosmetic surgery, use of cognitive enhancers is likely to increase as bioethical and psychological concerns are overcome," the journal Nature opined in a commentary.

Indeed, 80 percent of all the scientists who responded, including those who did not use the drugs, said they would defend the right of “healthy humans” to take the drugs to enhance performance.   Over half agreed that such use should not be restricted, even for college entrance examinations.

Source: redOrbit staff and wire reports

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