It's painful that I have to respond to so many links, so forgive me if I don't include each one inline.
My points are simple:
- How can anyone call it a "PED" if we don't know it is PE?
- Why give thyroid medication as an interchangeable example of TUE abuse, when, although it might be for "TU", the "E" is not required? These might be similar discussions but they are independent of each other.
The definition you gave me of "debate" says "serious discussion by many people". I don't doubt that there is a lot of discussion by many people. But I mean to say that all of the discussion about thyroid medication as a "performance enhancing" drug that should be banned is not serious. Much of it is mindless chatter, often accepting the hypothesis as a foregone conclusion.
I've already read most of those links, and none of them show that thyroid medication is "performance enhancing" in otherwise healthy, but overtrained/fatigued athletes. The best they do is one doctor's repetition of his personal belief, and some links which say that it works well when combined with other banned performance enhancing substances. Then the question about cheating and performance enhancing linked to thyroid medication becomes philosophical, if the only benefit comes when already cheating with banned performance enhancing substances.
The baseball link says that HGH can affect thyroid levels. They talk about "indicators" and what "may be", but nothing suggests that thyroid medication is performance enhancing for runners. The article was in 2010, and apparently WADA wasn't convinced enough at the next board meeting to ban them. They also mention bodybuilders, but bodybuilding performance is not running performance.
The sportsscientists are responding to the WSJ article about Dr. Jeffrey Brown. They basically say "IF (for the sake of argument) it is true that thyroid medication allows you to train harder, by alleviating a condition caused by hard training, THEN this should be considered cheating." They don't show anything that says thyroid medication is performance enhancing. They don't even accept that thyroid medication allows harder training, but preface their article with "if the allegation in WSJ is true...". They likewise acknowledged that the "performance enhancing benefit" is questioned.
The Blog Hills runners didn't add any value, but just referenced the sportsscientists, and opined that thyroid medication should be a banned substance, comparing it to asthma (and accusing healthy athletes of cheating with steroid based inhalers). But thyroid medication is not a steroid based inhaler, and while the two situations may look similar, there are significant differences. For one, steroids are known to enhance performance. The sportsscientists pointed out these distinctions.
Steve Magness gives a lot of information about people with real thyroid issues. Here he mentions that bodybuilders use thyroid medication in the short term, to get lean. He says "the SIMPLE reason" "it's NOT to enhance performance". Bodybuilders and runners have a different idea of "performance". He suggests the "simple reason" is that thyroid medication is used to "balance" hormones due to testosterone and HGH use. Now there's an angle worth some discussion. Thyroid medication might be banned, not because it's performance enhancing, but because it's used with other banned performance enhancing substances. Magness also talked about an EPO increase study, and also looked at recovery, but cast major doubts on both points.
Dr. Jeffrey Brown believes his ideas work. What else would you expect him to say? This is his business. Is he selling snake oil? Smith said it didn't enhance his performance. Salazar says he's the best endocrinologist, and Begley says he's the most thorough. Do they say that only because of thyroid problems? Maybe thorough means many other things. The article itself is inconclusive about the positive effects. The IOC says the evidence is not there.
The "letsrun thread" repeats the "performance" of bodybuilders angle (mainly short term weight loss), and triggers the mindless chatter. But bodybuilding performance is not running performance. The best we have is one anonymous poster saying the effects are well known in cycling. What's well known in cycling is that many drugs are combined.
The article quoting Victor Conte merits discussion. Too bad they didn't discuss it. Victor Conte gave it to sprinters. He says that when combined with steroids, the increased metabolism makes the steroids work faster. His opinion is formed by "athletes telling me they felt light and fast". It's an interesting hypothesis, but is feeling fast the same as being faster?
Accusations of thyroid abuse and TUE abuse may overlap and parallel each other, but my point was more basic -- that since no "E" is required, these are two separate things. Contrary to "everything", nothing points to thyroid hormones as "PEDs", because "PE" is still in doubt. The "PE" is doubted by the IOC and couldn't convince WADA. Synergy with other PEDs, or avoiding downsides of other PEDs, is not enough to merit calling thyroid medication "performance enhancing". So there is no "cure" versus "PED" question yet (unless you think that testosterone, HGH, and steroids are part of the cure).