Theobromine Report ‘Grossly Biased9

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31190, 14 October 1966, Page 7

Theobromine Report ‘Grossly Biased 9

“The Press” Special Service INVERCARGILL. The Racing Conference’s recent official release on theobromine is described by an Invercargill veterinary surgeon, Mr C. H. G. Irvine, as a “grossly biased and inaccurate statement.” Mr Irvine will become senior lecturer in veterinary physiology at the University of Canterbury next year. He has been called as a defence witness in the theobromine charges unsuccessfully laid against the gallopers, Flyway and Proud Boy, and the pacer, Presto.

“Regarding the very technical matter of the effect of theobromine on the speed stamina, conduct or courage of the horse, the executive of the Racing Conference has, without hearing any scientific evidence itself, over-rid-den the findings of various committees at various places all constituted by the conference or the clubs which make it up," he says. “In each case a great mass of expert evidence was heard and, in each case, the charge that theobromine is a drug

capable of affecting performance was dismissed. ’’l cannot understand how the executive, with no veterinary or pharmacological competence, can talk so glibly about a substantial body of expert opinions when, in fact, none exists outside their imagination. Such a statement is an insult to the intelligence of every member of every committee which heard these cases.” Referring to the conference statement that theobromine was widely known to medical and veterinary science as a drug, Mr Irvine said; “It has been extensively used on both humans and animals for a variety of purposes. Haver Used “I have been in practice for more than 20 years but during that time I have never used theobromine and have never heard of a veterinarian using theobromine, it is not listed in the British Pharmacopoeia, the British Pharmaceutical Codex or the United States National’ Formulary. ”1 don’t think that the columns of a newspaper are the proper place to debate scientific matters such as this. However, the executive has chosen this medium to disseminate a grossly biased and inaccurate statement so a statement of the true position through the same channels seems justified. “Presumably all the evidence which would have persuaded the committee to uphold the conference case was presented in the most recen' hearing, the Flyway case. So many textbooks were produced in this case that the inquiry room resembled the medical school library. The conference witnesses produced textbooks in which the author expressed the opinion that theobromine can have a slight effect on the heart and muscles (which is all that is required to make it a drug under the rules), while the defence produced a similar number of authorities who said that it had no effect at all.

“Clearly some authorities were incorrect. This is not surprising because the authors of textbooks, however, eminent, do not have experience with every drug which they discuss. No man in a normal life time could by his own work assess the effects of even a fraction of the drugs available to medicine.

“While these authors’ views are usually only opinions, they do list in each section reference to any actual work on which their opinion is based. “Excluding experiments with isolated strips of frog muscle and heart, stretched between a fixed point and a recording apparatus, which contract when ’substances like cold salt water —and other non drugs like theobromine—are dropped on them, the conference produced no evidence to show that theobromine has ever been found to have in the whole animal any effect at all on any organ or tissue in the horse, or any animal with which the horse may be validly compared. Not a Drug i “The standard definition of a drug is a substance used in the treatment or prevention of dicease. When one considers that it has been excluded from international drug listings which contain more than 30,000 drugs and is never used by veterinarians it cannot be claimed that theobromine Is a drug at all, let alone a widely konwn and extensively used one. “It is interesting to consider the opinion of overseas racing administrators, who are advised by specialised full time veterinarians and pharmacologists on the effects of drugs. “The Australian Jockey Club has reported eight cases in the last two years in which theobromine was found in urine samples under the same circumstances as in New Zealand No action was taken against the owner, trainer or horses in any of these cases, nor was there, in fact, an official inquiry. “The New York State Racing Commission has taken no action to deprive the owner of the winning horse of any stake where theobromine has appeared in like circumstances and the Japan Racing Association takes the same view. “By their action or their failure to take action, these very well informed bodies clearly do not regard theobromine as a drug capable of affecting speed, .stamina, conduct or courage. “The executive of the Racing Conference, in the face of all the experimental evidence against and none for any effect arising from theobromine, both in this country and overseas, has taken the opposite course.’’