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Why Drug Testing Doesn’t Worry Boxers/MMA Fighters Much
Can scientists detect hGH (Human Growth Hormone) in a urine test?
Not any time soon.
So is testing the urine of MMA athletes and boxers a complete farce?
Yes, it is…
The California State Athletic Commission only tests urine, and since only the most unsophisticated users of performance-enhancing drugs would fail to understand the testing process, what have you got for your trouble?
Nada. Zip. Zilch. A sham of a mockery of a travesty of a sham.
“Our work has not shown that we are going to be able to detect growth hormone in urine,” said Dr. Don Catlin, President and CEO of Anti-Doping Research, Inc.
“An effective test for human growth hormone has been a key priority for many of us working in the field of sports anti-doping. We now have reached a critical juncture, and I invite sports organizations and unions, anti-doping agencies and other science experts to set a meeting to discuss the issues related to hGH testing.
We need an open discussion with experts from the National Football League, Major League Baseball, World Anti-Doping Agency, United States Anti-Doping Agency and other concerned agencies regarding where the science stands today and where it’s likely to go. I know that all involved parties, including MLB and their players association, WADA, and scientists such as Peter Sonksen and others, are deeply committed to ridding sport of hGH.
Coming together, talking to each other, presenting data, sharing information and pooling resources, we can and will get there. Let’s not hesitate to do so.”
All well and good, but what about right now?
David Mayo, the boxing writer for the Grand Rapids Press and one of the best in the business, interviewed chief executive of the United States Anti-Doping Association, Travis Tygart, and the answers Tygart came back with underscore the futility of current fighter drug testing policies.
Q: Does anyone slip through the cracks regarding drug testing?
A: “Let me correct that premise for you. The current state of drug testing done by these state commissions is a joke. They don’t test for EPO. They don’t test for designer steroids. They test for a basic, simple menu that anybody with a heartbeat will escape. I just hate to hear that Shane Mosley did something really sophisticated to get around their testing. No, he didn’t. He would’ve been caught dead to rights in our program. But it doesn’t take a whole lot to sidestep the simple kind of drug testing that these state commissions are doing.
“Again, I hope it’s familiarity, I hope it’s knowledge, because part of the growth is for en******, but also athletes, to become knowledgable about these issues. If you’re a clean athlete, or you’re a sport organizer, promoter, state commission, whatever, if you want to protect clean athletes’ rights, you’re going to put in a clean program.”
Q: And that includes both blood and urine testing?
A: “Blood and urine but it’s got to be an effective urine program. Again, just a couple tests here and there that everyone knows about, or 72-hour notice that you’re going to be tested, or 48-hour notice — it has to be true, no-notice testing. And it has to be a broad menu of tests. And they don’t test for EPO. What was reported on Mosley is that he was using EPO. And he could use it without regard for being caught because they weren’t testing it — and there is a urine-based test for most EPO. So you’ve got to start with an effective urine program and an effective blood program. And the reason, to answer your specific question, that you need to do blood is because there are certain, and several, potent performance-enhancers that are not detected in the urine. Of those, human growth hormone being one; HBOC, which is synthetic hemoglobin; certain forms of EPO, like Micera; and then, the transfusions.”
Q: If you blood test, is urine testing necessary at all?
A: “Yes, because there are certain things that you’re not going to find in the blood, that you can only find in urine, like most forms of EPO, steroids, designer steroids, insulin. You have to have a combination of the two. Look, I’d love to have one strand of hair. From a cost and logistical standpoint, the simpler whatever we collect, the better. Not that collecting blood and urine are difficult, but you have to have the proper procedures in place, and account for the shipping, and the state that you need the samples, once collected, to remain in a preserved state where they can be accurately analyzed. You can build those programs. It doesn’t take much. We obviously would prefer the simplest mechanism possible. But just pulling a strand of hair is not effective to protect a clean athlete’s rights because there is so much that can’t be detected in hair, or saliva, or other things.”
Q: What is the difference in cost — because obviously, with most state commissions, you’re dealing with tax-based, governmental agencies — what’s the difference in cost between a urine test and a blood test?
A: “There’s not much. Incremental cost. It’s certainly not cost-prohibitive and if you want to protect clean athletes, you’ll put it in place. Take half of one percent of what these two boxers were going to generate, or make for themselves, and you’ve paid for a couple years of your program. I always hear that is a defense to not wanting it to be done, but it’s really not. It’s frankly a weak excuse not to protect clean athletes’ rights.”
Q: If I had 72 hours, could I mask EPO?
A: “Yeah.”
Q: If I knew it was coming, I could mask it?
A: “Yeah. Same with steroids.”
Q: How quickly could I mask it? What’s the shortest time frame, if I knew it was coming, that I could mask it?
A: “I mean, we do no notice. We literally show up, and knock on a door, and we find them.”
Q: My question is, if I knew 20 hours before the test, would I have time to mask it? Six hours? One hour? What would it be?
A: “Yep, all that.”
Q: If I knew 10 minutes before test, could I mask it?
A: “Yep. If you had some urine and a Whizzinator, 10 minutes before, you could mask it. If you had a catheter, which is not that tough to do, you could do it.”
Q: What about blood testing? Could I mask it then?
A: “For transfusions, the 14 days is not going to give you much concern. The evidence of the transfusion will stay in your system longer than the 14 days. But the human growth hormone, for sure not.”
Not any time soon.
So is testing the urine of MMA athletes and boxers a complete farce?
Yes, it is…
The California State Athletic Commission only tests urine, and since only the most unsophisticated users of performance-enhancing drugs would fail to understand the testing process, what have you got for your trouble?
Nada. Zip. Zilch. A sham of a mockery of a travesty of a sham.
“Our work has not shown that we are going to be able to detect growth hormone in urine,” said Dr. Don Catlin, President and CEO of Anti-Doping Research, Inc.
“An effective test for human growth hormone has been a key priority for many of us working in the field of sports anti-doping. We now have reached a critical juncture, and I invite sports organizations and unions, anti-doping agencies and other science experts to set a meeting to discuss the issues related to hGH testing.
We need an open discussion with experts from the National Football League, Major League Baseball, World Anti-Doping Agency, United States Anti-Doping Agency and other concerned agencies regarding where the science stands today and where it’s likely to go. I know that all involved parties, including MLB and their players association, WADA, and scientists such as Peter Sonksen and others, are deeply committed to ridding sport of hGH.
Coming together, talking to each other, presenting data, sharing information and pooling resources, we can and will get there. Let’s not hesitate to do so.”
All well and good, but what about right now?
David Mayo, the boxing writer for the Grand Rapids Press and one of the best in the business, interviewed chief executive of the United States Anti-Doping Association, Travis Tygart, and the answers Tygart came back with underscore the futility of current fighter drug testing policies.
Q: Does anyone slip through the cracks regarding drug testing?
A: “Let me correct that premise for you. The current state of drug testing done by these state commissions is a joke. They don’t test for EPO. They don’t test for designer steroids. They test for a basic, simple menu that anybody with a heartbeat will escape. I just hate to hear that Shane Mosley did something really sophisticated to get around their testing. No, he didn’t. He would’ve been caught dead to rights in our program. But it doesn’t take a whole lot to sidestep the simple kind of drug testing that these state commissions are doing.
“Again, I hope it’s familiarity, I hope it’s knowledge, because part of the growth is for en******, but also athletes, to become knowledgable about these issues. If you’re a clean athlete, or you’re a sport organizer, promoter, state commission, whatever, if you want to protect clean athletes’ rights, you’re going to put in a clean program.”
Q: And that includes both blood and urine testing?
A: “Blood and urine but it’s got to be an effective urine program. Again, just a couple tests here and there that everyone knows about, or 72-hour notice that you’re going to be tested, or 48-hour notice — it has to be true, no-notice testing. And it has to be a broad menu of tests. And they don’t test for EPO. What was reported on Mosley is that he was using EPO. And he could use it without regard for being caught because they weren’t testing it — and there is a urine-based test for most EPO. So you’ve got to start with an effective urine program and an effective blood program. And the reason, to answer your specific question, that you need to do blood is because there are certain, and several, potent performance-enhancers that are not detected in the urine. Of those, human growth hormone being one; HBOC, which is synthetic hemoglobin; certain forms of EPO, like Micera; and then, the transfusions.”
Q: If you blood test, is urine testing necessary at all?
A: “Yes, because there are certain things that you’re not going to find in the blood, that you can only find in urine, like most forms of EPO, steroids, designer steroids, insulin. You have to have a combination of the two. Look, I’d love to have one strand of hair. From a cost and logistical standpoint, the simpler whatever we collect, the better. Not that collecting blood and urine are difficult, but you have to have the proper procedures in place, and account for the shipping, and the state that you need the samples, once collected, to remain in a preserved state where they can be accurately analyzed. You can build those programs. It doesn’t take much. We obviously would prefer the simplest mechanism possible. But just pulling a strand of hair is not effective to protect a clean athlete’s rights because there is so much that can’t be detected in hair, or saliva, or other things.”
Q: What is the difference in cost — because obviously, with most state commissions, you’re dealing with tax-based, governmental agencies — what’s the difference in cost between a urine test and a blood test?
A: “There’s not much. Incremental cost. It’s certainly not cost-prohibitive and if you want to protect clean athletes, you’ll put it in place. Take half of one percent of what these two boxers were going to generate, or make for themselves, and you’ve paid for a couple years of your program. I always hear that is a defense to not wanting it to be done, but it’s really not. It’s frankly a weak excuse not to protect clean athletes’ rights.”
Q: If I had 72 hours, could I mask EPO?
A: “Yeah.”
Q: If I knew it was coming, I could mask it?
A: “Yeah. Same with steroids.”
Q: How quickly could I mask it? What’s the shortest time frame, if I knew it was coming, that I could mask it?
A: “I mean, we do no notice. We literally show up, and knock on a door, and we find them.”
Q: My question is, if I knew 20 hours before the test, would I have time to mask it? Six hours? One hour? What would it be?
A: “Yep, all that.”
Q: If I knew 10 minutes before test, could I mask it?
A: “Yep. If you had some urine and a Whizzinator, 10 minutes before, you could mask it. If you had a catheter, which is not that tough to do, you could do it.”
Q: What about blood testing? Could I mask it then?
A: “For transfusions, the 14 days is not going to give you much concern. The evidence of the transfusion will stay in your system longer than the 14 days. But the human growth hormone, for sure not.”
*****S on the feast
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