Human Growth Hormone Test could be upon us..

[Dear Wiggo]

Was anyone else aware that testing for hGH had been stopped for the past year?

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has given clearance for anti-doping bodies to resume human growth hormone (hGH) testing after a more than year-long hiatus.

Routine testing was suspended in the wake of a judgement by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in March 2013, in a case opposing the International Ski Federation (FIS) and Andrus Veerpalu, a retired Estonian cross-country skier.

http://www.insidethegames.biz/news/1022052-exclusive-human-growth-hormone-testing-poised-to-resume

 

[Granville57]

Was anyone else aware that testing for hGH had been stopped for the past year?

Errrr....not exacty. No, I was not aware.


This is encouraging though:

With artificial hGH believed to be used by athletes on a wide scale to enhance performance, WADA encouraged samples to continue being collected even during the break in testing, for analysis once the revised guidelines were in place.

In its update, WADA says it has "taken the opportunity to remind anti-doping organisations (ADOs) that had previously stored blood serum samples for future hGH analysis that they should now proceed with retrospective analysis using the hGH isoform differential immunoassays test.

 

[Dear Wiggo]

Given they don't test for EPO when riders like JTL are off the charts performance-wise, I can't see them retro-testing anyone "big" for hGH.

And despite WADA encourgaing them to store samples for future hGH testing, it's not a given that they did in fact do so...

Or is that too cynical?

 

[blackcat]

Given they don't test for EPO when riders like JTL are off the charts performance-wise, I can't see them retro-testing anyone "big" for hGH.

And despite WADA encourgaing them to store samples for future hGH testing, it's not a given that they did in fact do so...

Or is that too cynical?

not too cynical.

might be too accurate tho.

cant be toooo accurate in anti-doping neither.

and one may say, Tygart was the exception. Well, I am in Bro Deal's corner. Tygart still got it wrong, infinite confirmation bias had him believing the Zabriskie tears about his father. He really should have talked to Decanio

dont be too accurate Wiggo. Its a danger. Just be a harlequin. And add a sprinkle of blue jokes to and make pastiche of blackcat third person

 

[DirtyWorks]

Given they don't test for EPO when riders like JTL are off the charts performance-wise, I can't see them retro-testing anyone "big" for hGH.

And despite WADA encourgaing them to store samples for future hGH testing, it's not a given that they did in fact do so...

Or is that too cynical?

Mysteriously, no budget will be allocated to the task. And even if it was, the federation can always not sanction. The sports federations get into trouble when lawmakers poke around the sports requesting tests. Then suddenly, there are positives.

Which reminds me of more mysterious forces in IOC sport whereby upwards of 40 Russian State athletes were sanctioned among a much broader re-test pool. How/why this came to be was never explained. I assumed it had to do with giving some credibility to the idea the Sochi games were going to be cleans. But, still strange.

You want cynical, check out the JADCO scandal. Another incomplete story.

##########
I was operating under the assumption any notion of an HGH test was a joke. Test, no test, it didn't matter.

 

[DirtyWorks]

He really should have talked to Decanio..

Talk about a guy getting the timing wrong. Well, maybe he helped get things moving?

I just wish someone could package his stories so he didn't sound like a lunatic.

 

[neineinei]

Was anyone else aware that testing for hGH had been stopped for the past year?

there was this:

This could be old news but according to finnish media Wada has several positive test results for HGH. They are not going to publish them until they have full scientifical backbone for their new hgh limits. Wada doesn´t want to go to CAS and loose there anymore so this time they want to everything properly considering hgh. HGH -tests are made also in the Sotshi olympics, but positive results are released only after they are sure they are going to win at CAS.

 

[Dear Wiggo]

there was this:

Yeah right. I missed that entirely and would not have pieced together the issue at hand even if I had read it.

Cheers.

 

[blackcat]

Talk about a guy getting the timing wrong. Well, maybe he helped get things moving?

I just wish someone could package his stories so he didn't sound like a lunatic.

i think Decanio might have had the odd apocryphal story, not to mention the hyperbole.


but i find it an affront, to be consistently told the heartwrenching anecdote about zabriskie's promise to his father, which i found utterly fabulist and confected.

if Tygart was not to put stock in Armstrong's answers, why does he axiomatically find credulous the misinformation from DZ.

 

[neineinei]

The World Anti-Doping Agency expects a breakthrough within weeks to catch athletes who use human growth hormone.

Testing for HGH, including samples from Sochi Olympic athletes, should resume after being stalled by an appeal case ruling last year, WADA director-general David Howman said at a pre-games briefing.

http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2014/02/wada-resume-hgh-testing-‘outraged’-new-drug

WADA lingo:

expects a breakthrough within weeks=nothing happens for half a year

 

[Dear Wiggo]

http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2014/02/wada-resume-hgh-testing-‘outraged’-new-drug

WADA lingo:

expects a breakthrough within weeks=nothing happens for half a year

Tells noone the hGH testing has stopped. Encourages NADOs et al to store samples for retro testing (like that worked from 1998).

Tells everyone it's about to start again.

Dopers be all, "Thanks for the heads up, WADA!!"

 

[Andynonomous]

Tells noone the hGH testing has stopped. Encourages NADOs et al to store samples for retro testing (like that worked from 1998).

Tells everyone it's about to start again.

Dopers be all, "Thanks for the heads up, WADA!!"

Because it is more important to appear as though everything is kosher (no positives), than actually being kosher.

 

[Dear Wiggo]

Because it is more important to appear as though everything is kosher (no positives), than actually being kosher.

Anti doping theatre.

 

[zigmeister]

The issue isn't how many/often they tested for hGH. The problem is there has been no inexpensive and reliable urinary version of the test to detect it.

Only blood tests have proven reliable, and still costly. But, the legal question brought about by some that were popped, were the levels they *think* should be set as a threshold to claim they were taking hGH.

That has since been resolved partially in the courts. The original case was tossed due to scientific evidence that someone could be within a range of GH naturally, but they popped someone for a positive, with no way to discern whether it was really doping.

Which is why they kept old blood samples for later/retro testing. So this makes sense.

Why then are they keeping old blood samples to retro you ask? Because we know from the stats, very few blood tests are actually ever taken in cycling/sports in general!!!

That is a huge problem. Basically, there is still no simple/inexpensive and reliable way to test for hGH, unless you are drawing blood...and the price/complexity goes way up when doing that, compared to peeing in a cup. So the issue is, cost/simplicity/reliability. The blood test is pretty reliable now. But when you take 99% urine samples...so what.

The chances of popping someone is going to be slim to none, even doing retro. Now if the tests are done on a World level, amongst olympic, cycling etc...a much larger pool of blood samples, OK. But if focusing on samples of cycling, since this is a cycling forum...the odds of a person taking hGH, and you took a blood sample and tainted with hGH, are about 1 in 1 million.

We will see.