UCI pushing to completely ban controversial Carbon Monoxide usage due to "the complete lack of knowledge about the long-term effects"

The usage of Carbon Monoxide by teams such as UAE Team Emirates and Team Visma | Lease a Bike among others has been a topic of much debate in the cycling community recently. Now, the UCI is pushing a complete ban of the method.

"The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) announces that it will propose to its Management Committee that the use of carbon monoxide (CO) by riders be banned on medical grounds," announces the sport's governing body in an official press release. "The decision will be made by the executive body of the Federation at its next meeting, which will take place in Arras, France, on 31 January and 1 February 2025."

Recently, UAE Team Emirates announced that they would be stopping their own usage of the method, but insisted much of the hype and controversy surrounding it has been overblown. "Carbon monoxide rebreathing is a technique that has already been validated for 20 years and has been used by climbers, endurance sportsmen and athletes around the world to measure haemoglobin mass when they go to altitude," said UAE Team Emirates performance coordinator Jeroen Swart. "We've been very good with our altitude training camps in the last seven years. We feel that we've done a really good job in terms of the benefit, but there's no way that you can quantify that clearly, other than measuring haemoglobin mass."

According to the UCI though, there is a worrying lack of knowledge about the potential repercussions over Carbon Monoxide rebreathing. "Carbon monoxide is a toxic, odourless gas that is often a cause of household accidents. Inhaled in low doses and under strict safety conditions, the gas is used in medicine as a tracer to measure the pulmonary diffusion of oxygen or of the total haemoglobin mass," the UCI says. "However, when inhaled repeatedly in non-medical conditions, it can cause side effects such as headaches, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, chest pain, breathing difficulties, and even loss of consciousness."

"The UCI considers that these health side effects, and the complete lack of knowledge about the long-term effects of repeated inhalation of carbon monoxide, justify a ban on the use of this gas due to medical reasons," the statement concludes. "Its use in a medical setting, by qualified medical personnel, and within the strict context of assessing total haemoglobin mass, would, however, remain authorised."