British anti-doping authorities to give athletes biological passports ahead of London 2012

UK Anti-Doping to issue biological passports

LONDON — British anti-doping authorities will provide the country’s athletes with biological passports in an effort to deter the use of banned substances ahead of the London 2012 Olympics.

UK Anti-Doping announced the effort Friday in collaboration with the WADA-accredited laboratory at King’s College London. It’s similar to the program used by the International Cycling Union to monitor professional riders.

The King’s College London Drug Control Center is the only lab in Britain accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Traditional anti-doping tests compare the level of substances in samples to the average in the general population. The new system of blood tests allows scientists to measure results against the athletes’ individual norms to spot unusual readings.

“This new program will compare the athlete with himself or herself rather than against the population at large,” Drug Control Center director Professor David Cowan said. “The effect of this will make it far easier to catch the doped athlete.

“We believe that this will act as a powerful deterrent for the good of all healthy athletes and maintain the integrity of sport.”

The passport program began last month with a group of athletes. They will be tested periodically so their regular levels of substances such as testosterone can be recorded and used as a baseline against which future tests can be measured.

“The blood-profiling program is a major step forward in the fight against doping in sport and provides us with another tool to support clean athletes,” UK Anti-Doping chief executive Andy Parkinson said. “As doping and dopers become more sophisticated, we need to continue to improve and evolve our methods of detection to keep up.”

The lab is mostly used to dealing with urine samples and can detect any of the 60 or so substances on WADA’s banned list. Its efficiency and reliability is checked by the world body through the occasional submission of test samples without the knowledge of lab workers.

All samples are sent by courier to the lab in tamperproof glass jars. Any attempt to open the jars without the lab’s dedicated clamp-like, hand-wound device shatters them.

Every stage of the sample’s journey from athlete to the end of the testing process is documented.

Working against a back drop of the low hum of machinery, the scientists note each time a sample is removed from the refrigerator to protect its integrity and help protect against the oft-employed defense by athletes that positive samples have been incorrectly stored or handled.

The King’s College lab usually deals with about 8,000 samples per year, but expects to handle between 5,000 and 6,000 during the two weeks of the London Olympics.

The time between arrival of the sample and publication of the result will be reduced from about 10 days to 24 hours for the duration of the games. The college will borrow staff from the 35 WADA-accredited laboratories worldwide to keep up with the workload.

The lab will be open around the clock, with extra equipment loaned by manufacturers.

“I use the Olympic motto,” Cowan said. “Faster, higher, stronger: we want faster analysis to deal with an Olympic Games, higher sensitivity and a stronger group.”

Cowan is heading to Vancouver to serve on the International Olympic Committee’s medical commission task force, overseeing the anti-doping operation at the Winter Olympics.

Cowan said the roles could be reversed in two years time, with Cristiane Ayotte of the Montreal anti-doping lab likely to oversee the local lab at London 2012.

“I am sure it will work perfectly, but this gives the added protection,” Cowan said. “It makes us 200 percent sure that when the lab puts out a result, everything has been checked out and it’s all OK before the IOC takes action against a competitor.”