World Anti-Doping Agency

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is an international organisation founded in 1999 to coordinate anti-doping policy across sports and countries. WADA publishes the World Anti-Doping Code and the annual Prohibited List, which is the operational document defining which substances and methods are banned in tested sport. The Prohibited List is the reference standard against which most “natty” or “not natty” determinations on Retapedia are made.

Prohibited List structure

A new edition of the Prohibited List enters into force each 1 January. WADA publishes it months earlier: the 2027 edition was published in September 2026. The list groups banned substances into categories:

• S0 Non-approved substances
• S1 Anabolic agents — includes anabolic steroids and SARMs
• S2 Peptide hormones, growth factors, related substances, and mimetics — includes growth hormone, IGF-1, and GH secretagogues
• S3 Beta-2 agonists
• S4 Hormone and metabolic modulators
• S5 Diuretics and masking agents
• S6–S9 In-competition only (stimulants, narcotics, cannabinoids, glucocorticoids)

Therapeutic use exemptions

Athletes with documented medical need for a prohibited substance may apply for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) authorising the substance for the duration of treatment.

Signatories

The WADA Code has been adopted by the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee, international federations, and national anti-doping organisations. Some natural-bodybuilding federations, such as the World Natural Bodybuilding Federation (WNBF), adopt the WADA list as a baseline and add further restrictions.