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Football players using ammonia capsules to get an edge
Feb 7, 2005, 11:47 AM
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Do our coaches allow this practice to go on at Clemson? Has anyone ever seen one of our players using ammonia capsules? What are your thoughts on this practice of using ammonia capsules during a game.
Even though they are not banned by the NCAA, there are health risk involved.
A spokesperson for the NCAA said there is nothing about the capsules in its rulebook. Spokeswoman Gail Dent, the NCAA's associate director of public relations, added, "Ammonia cartridges should only be used for medical purposes by a medical professional."
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by Mike Freeman
The Florida Times Union
On college sidelines
How the practice of ammonia inhaling made its way into the world of high-profile football is unclear. NFL players interviewed said they picked up the habit from college players, and college players said they heard about it from NFL players.
"I don't really believe in them," said University of Miami defensive lineman Thomas Carroll. "But more and more guys in college football are using them. They don't help you play better, but some people feel like they need to be amped up. If you need something to amp you up, that's pretty weak.
"I'm not worried about the health issues." he added, "because, if anything, smelling salts may kill a few brain cells, but playing football kills even more."
Carroll said he had never seen ammonia cartridges used while playing in high school and not heard of the practice until he got to Miami. He estimated that at least 20 percent of the Miami team was using ammonia cartridges.
Several NFL and college coaches said they were unaware of the practice, even as dozens of players on their own teams were doing it.
"I had no idea this sort of thing was happening," said Larry Coker, Hurricanes coach. "I have never heard of smelling salts being used that way before in my entire career."
Some of the more stark examples happened before University of Florida football games.
In the Florida-Florida State game, a Times-Union reporter saw a man on the Gators sideline take cartridges out of his right pocket, and hand them out to players. Seminole players were seen using them as well.
The Gators kickoff team had a methodical routine: They would inhale ammonia just seconds before taking the field, often in view of former coach Ron Zook just several feet away.
Several dozen capsules were on the floor a few feet outside the Florida locker room at the Georgia Dome when the Gators played Miami in the Peach Bowl on Dec. 31.
Zook said that he has seen the use of smelling salts to clear the nasal passages at almost all of his coaching stops, including Florida, and sees nothing wrong with it.
"I think that if their use was dangerous, the medical staff would have warned me or told the players not to use them," Zook, who has taken over as coach at Illinois, said in a telephone interview. "But that never happened."
Health risks are possible
The physiological aspects of inhaling ammonia and why it has such a powerful effect on the human body can be traced to the adrenaline rush it provides, said Schauben, a board certified toxicologist trained to handle hazardous materials, neurological and cardiovascular toxins, and chemical and biological agents. This report was written by Mike Freeman and appeared in The Florida Times Union
While Schauben emphasized he has no specific knowledge of ammonia sniffing by athletes and knows of no studies on the subject, he theorized that the ammonia activates the body's adrenaline system, and the effects can last anywhere from five to 15 minutes.
An adrenaline rush is part of the body's fight or flight syndrome, Schauben said. A certain part of the nervous system is activated, the heart rate increases and blood pressure rises. He speculated the effect is similar to amphetamines.
"It probably causes the players to feel like they can run through a brick wall," he said.
The possible health risks, Schauben said, are potential problems with parts of the respiratory system, particularly with players who use a large number of ammonia cartridges over a long period of time.
Said Strahan: "I guess I should think more about the effects this can have on my body. But to be honest, I worry more about all of the hits I take and the toll the violence takes on my body than the ammonia."
David Vukich, vice president and chief medical officer at Shands Jacksonville, said many doctors no longer use the cartridges because of doubts about their effectiveness.
"Whether or not this really provides a lift is questionable and is something that might be in the heads of athletes," he said. "What I am certain of is that ammonia is a water soluble toxin. Inhaling ammonia on purpose many times over is not something I would recommend."
The cartridges used by most players are manufactured by the James Alexander Corp. They are composed of 18.5 percent ammonia and anywhere from 35 to 40 percent alcohol, a statement from the company said. The remainder of the ingredients are not listed.
"Ammonia inhalants are used for inhalation only to prevent or treat fainting," the statement said.
A spokesperson for the company, Carol Gamsby, said that if the players are utilizing the cartridges to clear their nasal passages or as a performance enhancer, "then they are not using them in the designed manner. They were constructed to be used very sparingly, and only to wake up an unconscious person."
When told of what the cartridges were being used for by players, Gamsby responded, "Why would they do that?" When told of the reason, she added: "Don't they know that using them that way is not how they are supposed to be used? That is not recommended."
NFL players interviewed say they will keep using the cartridges despite the unknown risks to their health.
"It's part of a routine for some of us," said one Jaguars defensive player. "It helped us get fired up for the games. Players are reluctant to give something like that up."
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During an October game against Detroit, television cameras caught Favre raising a white capsule to his nose and taking two small, short breaths.
The capsule, just several inches long, was clearly identifiable as an ammonia cartridge, with its ingredient of adrenaline-pumping ammonia. Favre declined comment for this story.
Neither illegal nor against the rules of the NFL or NCAA, an increasing number of professional and college players are using ammonia sniffing as a way to pep themselves up for the rigors and violence of the sport.
Hundreds of players, from the Jaguars to the Packers to the University of Florida, from high-profile pass throwers to the grunts on kickoff coverage, inhale dozens, sometimes even hundreds, of doses a week in practices and games, a season-long investigation by The Florida Times-Union has discovered.
"I use one before every game," said New York Giants Pro Bowl defensive end Michael Strahan, a 12-year veteran. "I've used them for years, but I think their use is beginning to spread across football. When I first started, not many other players were using them. Now, I would say 70 or 80 percent of the league does."
Inhaling ammonia cartridges is not against NFL rules, said league spokesman Greg Aiello. The NFL's medical liaison, physician Elliott Pellman, said in a statement that there is no medical information to suggest the use of the capsules is harmful. The NFL had no further comment.
A spokesperson for the NCAA said there is nothing about the capsules in its rulebook. Spokeswoman Gail Dent, the NCAA's associate director of public relations, added, "Ammonia cartridges should only be used for medical purposes by a medical professional."
The manufacturer of the ammonia cartridges said their use to either clear nasal passages or to enhance performance is a gross misuse of the product.
And, while medical experts say the health effects of ammonia sniffing are unknown, they question the wisdom of exposing the body to numerous doses of the chemical.
"Ammonia is a strong irritant to the mucous membranes," said Jay Schauben, a physician and director of the Florida Poison Information Center at Shands Jacksonville hospital. "These players may get an adrenaline rush, but this is not a healthy thing they are doing."
Ty Warren, a defensive lineman for the New England Patriots, says he does not use the capsules because he is concerned about possible health effects.
"I know using them to pep yourself up is getting big in the NFL,'' Warren said. "I don't understand it. It's kind of worrisome to me. I have enough things to worry about with playing football than using a lot of these things and having a tumor grow in my head.''
Pushing the envelope
Ammonia cartridges have been around football for years, but were almost exclusively used as a way to arouse a player knocked unconscious.
Trainers and doctors interviewed for this story say many professional and college teams no longer use the cartridges for that purpose because they can cause a player to shake his head violently. Some doctors maintain they don't even work.
And, while ammonia inhaling has been used in other sports such as weightlifting and hockey, its use in football as a performance enhancer is relatively new -- about one or two years, players said.
Indeed, it is not uncommon to see players during NFL games inhale ammonia half a dozen times on the sidelines. Strahan said that he and other teammates use them on the field before a game and sometimes during one. Capsules are usually given out by the team, pro players say.
"After the game, there are ammonia tablets all over the sidelines," Strahan said.
The Jaguars took this out-in-the-open secret to an even higher level this season, when the Times-Union first became aware of the ammonia sniffing.
In September, several minutes before the Jaguars kicked off against Denver, a small number of Jacksonville defensive players were passing around a small bottle, putting it under their noses and taking several deep breaths.
Immediately after inhaling, they would jump around the sideline, frenetic, as if they had just been shocked with a large jolt of electricity. Players speculated that it raised their adrenaline levels by a factor of 10.
Several Jaguars players who asked not to be identified because of apprehension about how fans and the public would react to ammonia sniffing, told the Times-Union that the bottle contained a concoction of anywhere from a half-dozen to a dozen ammonia capsules. Players said they would break open the capsules, insert them in the bottle with a liquid, then mix the potion by shaking it. Players would not identify the liquid.
Soon, the practice spread and a number of players on the team -- not just on defense -- were inhaling. Later, Jaguars players had both the bottled concoction and individual ammonia cartridges on the sideline before and during games, sometimes using both at different points in the contests.
A Jaguars spokesman said the organization had no comment.
The Times-Union witnessed the ritual during four games. After an article in the newspaper initially brought the practice to light, there were no more obvious occurrences on the sidelines or out in the open at Jaguars games.
The capsules' adaptation is another chapter in which athletes seek every possible advantage -- no matter how small, or strange, or potentially harmful that advantage might be.
From the use of caffeine pills to illicit drugs to steroids to human growth hormone and now ammonia sniffing, football history is riddled with examples of players pushing the envelope to get better performance on the field.
And, once other players learn of a perceived advantage, it spreads. This report was written by Mike Freeman and appeared in The Florida Times Union
"There is definitely an element of if one guy is using something they say gives them an edge, then everyone else wants to try the same thing," said Strahan. "I think all professional athletes are that way."
A larger issue might be that some players believe they cannot endure the violence of the game without some sort of chemical crutch. Players interviewed said that while drugs such as steroids are still present in the league, their use remains rare because many athletes are scared of the NFL's drug testing policy, which players consider fairly tough.
The use of ammonia might be a low-tech way to get a chemical edge -- as well as a perceived high -- without violating any of football's drug mandates.
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