The UK is adding another tool in the fight against doping in sport by implementing an athlete biological passport scheme for a pool of UK athletes.
Following consultation with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), International Partners and King’s College London’s Drug Control Centre, the recently formed UK Anti-Doping has taken the first steps in developing an athlete biological passport with its blood profiling programme.
In collaboration with King’s College London, the UK’s only WADA accredited laboratory, UK Anti-Doping has provided the specialist equipment and training needed to meet the international standards required by WADA for operating a profiling programme.
The blood profiling programme monitors levels of selected variables in the blood over time providing information about an athlete’s levels. This longitudinal analysis helps identify abnormal levels. Monitoring levels in this way provides an understanding of when an athlete norm is naturally higher than the average norm, as well as it being used as an indicator for doping which in turn could lead to further investigation and target testing.
UK Anti-Doping’s Chief Executive, Andy Parkinson said “The blood profiling programme is a major step forward in the fight against doping in sport and provides us with another tool to support clean athletes. As doping and dopers become more sophisticated we need to continue to improve and evolve our methods of detection to keep up. By enhancing the tools we have at our disposal and through an integrated approach to testing, scientific analysis and intelligence, supported by a comprehensive and wide reaching education programme, we narrow the opportunity for doping to take place.”
Professor David Cowan, Director of the King’s College London Drug Control Centre, said “King’s is now fully recognised to undertake athlete biological passport profiling. UK Anti-Doping has been crucial in keeping us at the forefront of anti-doping. This new programme will compare the athlete with himself or herself rather than against the population at large. 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 first athletes were placed on the programme at the beginning of December 2009 and samples will be taken on a regular basis throughout the course of their career. By monitoring the blood in this way, it will make it far harder for an athlete to dope as raised levels of naturally occurring substances will be identified.
Notes to Editors:
UK Anti-Doping is UK Anti-Doping is the National Anti-Doping Organisation for the UK.
UK Anti-Doping has responsibility for ensuring sports bodies in the UK are compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code through implementation and management of the UK’s National Anti-Doping Policy.
UK Anti-Doping’s functions include an education and information programme, athlete testing across more than 40 sports, intelligence management and exclusive results management authority for the determination of anti-doping rule violations.
Accountable to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), UK Anti-Doping has a very clear remit in anti-doping in the UK and plays a lead role in the fight against doping in sport.
King's Drug Control Centre
The Drug Control Centre was established in 1978 with the support of the former Sports Council, now UK Sport, to analyse samples collected from human sports competitors. There are only 35 accredited anti-doping laboratories in the world; the King’s laboratory is the only one in the UK.
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/biohealth/research/drugcontrol/
King's College London
King's College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (Times Higher Education 2009) and the fourth oldest in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, King's has more than 21,000 students from nearly 140 countries, and more than 5,700 employees. King's has an outstanding reputation for providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research.
www.kcl.ac.uk
