Former East German athletes sue over performance drugs
Publish date: 06 July 2005
Issue Number: 1371
Diary: Legalbrief Today
Category: General
A former state-owned pharmaceutical company is the target of a £2.4m lawsuit by more than 160 East German athletes who say their lives have been ruined by performance-enhancing drugs that turned them into Olympic champions.
The Scotsman reports the effects of the drugs that the sports commissars made them take often as children continue to this day. One of the litigants, now 43 years old, has to use a cane, has chronic back pain, diabetes and other ailments. However, the company argues that it is not culpable as the drug was legal but misused by sports physicians and trainers. Full report in The Scotsman
