First off, a healthy person taking asthma meds may increase ventilation but it is highly doubtful that it will help performance. You can look these up on PubMed. No matter who exercises, you will see some drop off in ventilation with exercise specifically FEV1 (the amount of expired air in 1 minute). Asthmatics and EIA sufferers will have a greater than normal drop off in FEV1 (and other markers).
I believe that in the future WADA will adopt the stricter IOC regulations. As it stands now, one just needs a physicians approval for the meds and completion of a an abbreviated TUE.
If a person believes something helps then there is little one can do about it.
For specific posters:
Surprise!, anecdotal data is no data. You PR proves nothing.
Asthmatic (for real), the swimmer was Rick DeMont in 1972. It was a screw up by the USOC. More from Dan Patrick
http://espn.go.com/talent/danpatrick/s/2001/0202/1057642.html
Stealth, ventilation (moving air) is not the limiting factor in exercise in a healthy person. Therefore, "breathing easier" for a healthy person is not going to help. Again, you can search PubMed for studies where healthy folks were giving inhalers and showed no PERFORMANCE improvement (in other words they did not run faster or ski faster).
Hannsen, your example of being able to use rhEPO is just silly. Also, athletes can take Sudafed. Pseudoephedrine was removed from the prohibited list effective 2005. I guess you would not let diabetics compete either. Tell that to Gary Hall, Jr.
Mikewats, inhalers are not going to "bulk you up". If they are bulked up then you are likely to outrun them anyway!
Fruitbowl, if a person had a disease that required rhEPO, that athlete would not be allowed to compete as long as he/she was taking rhEPO. There is no exception to this rule. Anemia can be treated without rhEPO in an otherwise healthy person.
Asthmar, the only way to detect EIA is with an exercise challenge that you describe. I have EIA, but not asthma. My pulmonary function test is a classic example of EIA.
upandaway, the IOC standards are not subjective at all. It requires a 10 (or 12)% decrease in FEV1 using one of 4 protocols. Now, the level of drop off is subject to some argument (is it 10% or 15%). The check for asthma is not just looking at capacity. This is why those flowmeters are virtually useless. The measures require a measure of FEV1 and FEF50. The requirements for Athens seem to be off the IOC website and the last word I got was that the requirements for Beijing were not up yet.
The tests used to test urine samples can tell the difference between the inhaled steroids and anabolic steroids; they are different critters.
If people are really interested, I would recommend Rundell and Wilber's book, "Exercise-Induced Asthma".