WADA President Fahey urges more blood test

The ITU Anti-doping team would like to update people on a presentation that the World Anti-Doping Agency President John Fahey delivered to the IOC Session in Durban, South Africa last week where he re-emphasized the need for Anti-Doping Organizations (ADOs) around the world to conduct more blood testing.

From WADA’s website, “since certain performance enhancing substances are only detectable through blood analysis, Mr. Fahey explained that it was a priority for WADA to encourage ADOs to increase their sampling of blood.

Mr. Fahey also reported on compliance to the World Anti-Doping Code, with particular reference to the Compliance Report due at the WADA Foundation Board in November, and highlighted developments made in relationship building with law enforcement agencies and pharmaceutical companies.

“When it comes to administering doping tests, we now know it is about quality, not quantity – it’s about making intelligent choices, particularly with regard to the targeting of athletes out-of-competition,” said Mr. Fahey.

“The most recent figures available to WADA reported by accredited laboratories provide some insight into the low ratio of blood to urine.

“Of growing concern is the reluctance of Code signatories to undertake blood testing. Many performance enhancing drugs can only be detected by blood analysis and insufficient analysis of blood samples almost guarantees some doping cheats will succeed.”

Mr. Fahey explained that the emphasis was now on quality, intelligent testing, especially with regards to increasing the ratio of blood to urine.

On compliance, WADA’s President was able to report that many International Federations (IFs) had made significant progress with the implementation of effective anti-doping regulations.

“I am happy to report that almost all IFs of the Olympic Program, most Recognized Federations are Code Compliant, and almost all NOCs have regulations in place,” added Mr. Fahey.

“As for National Anti-Doping Organizations, there is still work to be done to reach worldwide compliance.”

Amongst other developments, Mr. Fahey outlined a memorandum of understanding with the World Customs Organization (WCO), a partnership similar to the one already in place with Interpol and designed to help gather evidence of doping in addition to testing and analysis.

The President also notified the IOC Session of a partnership with GlaxoSmithKline, cooperation with the Bio Technology Industry and advances made with the Athlete Biological Passport.”

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