Advances in drug testing for 2012

London 2012 looks to be the riskiest games yet for athletes looking to use any kind of illegal performance enhancement. Recent developments in science mean that blood doping, an illegal method of enhancing performance that scientists have always struggled to spot, may soon be detectable. Blood doping, or autologous blood transfusion is a process whereby the athlete removes and stores their own blood, before injecting it back into themselves. The blood is stored for a long enough period of time to allow the athletes body to replace the lost cells. Therefore, when the stored blood is injected back into the body, it gives a boost of red blood cells, and therefore a boost of oxygen.

Prof David Cowan, director of The Blood Control Centre at King’s College London which will run the Olympic drug testing program, explained the developments which now allow scientists to be able to detect old blood in new, “A few years ago, scientists discovered there are processes going on in red bloodcells [as they age outside the body]. We’ve been looking at the different RNA that’s present and been able to identify those that are clearly changed in stored blood.” RNA has a similar structure to DNA but serves a different purpose in the body.

However, despite these developments, the test for blood doping may not be ready for use by 2012. Tests must reach a level of incredibly high accuracy before they are able to be implemented at the games, because of the detrimental effect of falsely accusing an athlete of cheating. In 1999 a large sweep of athletes tested positive for the drug nandrolone, which mimics the effects of testosterone in the body. The athletes were so adamant they hadn’t used anything that The International Olympic Commission held an investigation, and it was found that compounds similar to nandrolone were present in a variety of dietary supplements. If taken, these supplements then caused nandrolone to form naturally in the athlete’s body. Therefore another test in development for 2012 is a test to determine if nandrolone present in a positive sample is due to natural metabolic processes in the body or illegal supplements.

More tests than ever before will be carried out at London 2012, with 50% of athletes being tested and 6,250 samples being taken. Samples will also be stored for 8 years so that if necessary they can be tested with more advanced technology in the future.