UK testing firm lifts game in sports nutrition doping war
After the recent ‘Tackling Doping in Sport’ conference in London, LGC said its Informed-Sport programme had been positively referred to as a good example of a scheme that could give athletes genuine peace-of-mind to use certain products while simultaneously reducing the potential for caught athletes to forward contaminated supplements as the source of their doping infringement.
That said, the consensus at the event was that food supplements remained of some risk to athletes, especially those that had not passed through schemes like Informed-Sport.
Clean sport, clean products
“This conference was the latest step in the fight for clean sport, and the issue of supplement contamination was discussed widely,” said attendee Terence O’Rorke, the business sector manager for the Informed-Sport programme.
“The was a general acceptance that Informed-Sport - which certifies that all nutritional supplements and ingredients that bear the logo have been regularly tested for banned substances in our world-renowned anti-doping lab - was the most effective way for athletes to manage this risk.”
“Events like this are vital in ensuring that all of us who have a passion for clean sport continue to share ideas for the benefit of athletes and to help them avoid inadvertently testing positive.”
“This is especially important ahead of the 2015 World Anti-Doping Code, which increases the sanction for an anti-doping rule violation [to four years]. Informed-Sport is an important element in protecting clean athletes.”
Athletes and governing bodies such as UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) and the English Football Association (FA) acknowledged the risk and encouraged athletes to only use supplements that have been through the Informed-Sport risk assessment programme.
The World Sports Law Report organised event focused on the latest progress and practices from across the world in the fight against doping.
Informed-Sport is a risk assessment programme created in close consultation with UK Anti-Doping. UK Athletics recommend that their athletes can use certified products knowing contamination risks are minimised as much as possible.
