Scientist Don Catlin understands NFLPA's hesitation to allow WADA to test players for HGH - Ingles

Anti-doping pioneer Don Catlin says he understands why NFL Players Association officials continue to have questions about the reliability of human growth hormone tests after last week's meeting with the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Catlin, best known as the scientist who identified the designer steroid THG, says WADA is notoriously reluctant to share its data about blood screening for HGH.

"I'd like to look at the data, but WADA doesn't disclose its information so an independent scientist can review it," said Catlin, the founder of the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory, the first anti-doping lab in the United States.

WADA has not shared information with other anti-doping researchers about the rate of false positives and false negatives since it began testing athletes' blood for HGH, said Catlin, now the chief executive officer of Anti-Doping Research, a Los Angeles nonprofit organization, making it hard to determine how effective the test really is.

"Every test will have false positives," Catlin said. "The question is, what percentage can a sport stand? We understand that people are sometimes put in jail or even put to death because of mistakes. One in 10,000 - is that acceptable? It's not if you are that one person, but it's acceptable to most of us. But if it is one in 10, then you know we are not there yet. When you put the information out there for other people to review, that's when it gets serious."

But a source familiar with the NFLPA's HGH negotiations with the league believes the Players Association's claims that WADA officials weren't transparent during their three-hour meeting in Montreal on Wednesday had more to do with union politics than WADA's presentation.

"DeMaurice Smith (the union's chief executive officer) agreed to HGH testing too early and now he's trying to look tough for his members," the source said. "He's trying to buy time for players who used performance-enhancing drugs during the lockout to clear their systems."

The source said scientists who attended the meeting at the behest of the NFLPA were satisfied with WADA's presentation, but outside counsel Maurice Suh, who represented cyclist Floyd Landis after his 2006 Tour de France title was stripped because of doping, demanded to see documents from every HGH test WADA has ever conducted. "Suh was totally unreasonable," the source said. "The union was playing a game."

Suh and union spokesman George Atallah did not return calls for comment. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy referred questions to WADA; a WADA spokeswoman said director general David Howman could not be reached for comment.

The NFL and its union agreed in principle to screen players' blood for growth hormone in the collective bargaining agreement both sides signed after the league's five-month lockout ended at the beginning of the month.

The union, however, has expressed concerns about the appeals process for players who test positive, as well as the reliability of screening players' blood for HGH. Critics have questioned the validity of the growth hormone test, in part because drug screeners have only a brief window - anywhere from 12 to 24 hours - to detect HGH after it has been injected into an athlete's body.

"I'd like a test with at least a week of retrospectivity, but that's OK as long as it is not giving a high number of false positives," Catlin said.

The test was first introduced at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, but the first positive test wasn't announced until last year, when British rugby player Terry Newton was banned from competition for two years. Only a handful of athletes have tested positive for HGH since that time.

If its union signs on, the NFL will become the first American pro league to test its players for HGH. In the spring of 2010, Major League Baseball began screening samples of minor leaguers' blood for human growth hormone, which is banned by the NCAA, the International Olympic Committee and pro sports leagues. Former Met Mike Jacobs of the Colorado Rockies' Triple-A team became the first professional baseball player to test positive for the drug earlier this month.

Baseball cannot test major leaguers without the approval of the Players Association, which has historically been deeply opposed to blood screening. MLB negotiators, who have been quietly meeting with union officials to hammer out a new contract to replace the CBA that expires later this year, are pushing for HGH testing.

NFL officials want to use WADA to run its HGH program, but the Players Association has expressed reservations. Union officials, reluctant to turn over drug-test results and other medical data to an organization they have not worked with in the past, requested the meeting with WADA to learn more about its HGH program.

The union's reluctance to sign off on HGH testing could scuttle the NFL's plans to implement screening for the performance-enhancing drug by the time the season kicks off on Sept. 8. If both sides do not agree to the HGH program, the NFL's 2010 drug policy would remain in effect. (source New York Daily News)

Posted by Necesitamos Mas Football on 10:22 a. m.. Filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0