Agenda 21
In 1999 the IOC approved AGENDA 21, in which the Olympic Movement defines its position on health and the environment. It clearly rejects the use of harmful substances in sport. AGENDA 21 is compulsory for all kinds of Olympic sports.
BfR Study
On 15 April 2004, Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, the BfR, published a scientific expert report on the practice of speedgluing in table tennis, concluding that damage to health cannot be ruled out and recommending counter-measures.
ITTF speedgluing ban
On the occasion of the world championship in Doha in 2004, the ITTF's Board of Directors (BoD) voted to ban the use of volatile organic solvents in table tennis glues with effect from 1.9.2007.
After Doha, the ITTF set up a Glue Working Group and gave it the task of implementing and supervising the solvent ban.
In 2005, a revised version of Technical Leaflet T4B was published describing the solvent-free glues of the future.
During the world championship in Bremen in 2006, the BoD postponed the start-date for the ban on volatile organic solvents to 1.9.2008