World Anti-Doping Agency said that the gene variation discovered to possibly effect the absorption of testosterone in the urine will not affect the results of the drug tests conducted in the Olympics to find out if the athletes were using steroids. The gene variation, UGT2B17, varies the testosterone and epi-testosterone (t/e) in urine samples depending on the ethnicity. Based on the study conducted by scientists from the Swiss Laboratory for Anti-Doping Analyses on 171 male soccer players, Asians have low levels of absorption compared with Caucasians.
For athlete to have a violation his t/e ratio should be at 4:1. But with the recent findings threshold should be set differently for every ethnic group.
From ESPN:
The Swiss scientists recruited soccer players from Argentina, Italy, Japan, South Africa, Switzerland, and Uganda for the study. When their genes were decoded, it was found that the different ethnic groups had the gene in different amounts.
It was present in 7 percent of Hispanics, 10 percent of whites, 22 percent of Africans, and 81 percent of Asians.
Howard Jacobs, the attorney who represented cyclist Floyd Landis, said the finding has no effect on the cyclist’s case because it was just one piece of evidence against him. (Landis, subsequently stripped of the Tour de France title he won in 2006, registered 11:1 on his t/e test.)
But Jacobs said the study is notable for what it says about anti-doping officials.
“It once again shows that their repeated claims that their tests are infallible and exhaustively reviewed prior to use are simply not true,” the attorney said.
Anti-doping officials, meanwhile, are downplaying the importance of the study.
US Anti Doping Agency chief executive Tyler Tygart said the discovery of the gene was new but the phenomenon had been discussed years before. Frederick Donze, spokesperson for WADA said the new findings will not affect the infallibility of the drug tests.
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
