Athletes to face blood testing

SPORTS Minister Jim McDaid has announced that one of his priorities is to oversee new drug testing measures introduced to Ireland. The Minister proposes to lead the way in Europe by permitting blood testing here, a departure from the traditional urine testing methods that have failed to detect many of the current drugs used by top athletes.

No time frame or cost has yet been put on the Minister's initiative.

In the statement, released yesterday, Dr McDaid points to the Atlanta Olympic Games where there were few positive tests and highlights the widespread belief that, post-Atlanta, the detectors are still lagging behind the abusers.

"Mass spectrometry is the state-of-the-art testing tool which was introduced at the Atlanta Olympic Games. The failure of this device to detect the more sophisticated modern agents has prompted certain international sporting organisations to explore the introduction of blood testing for competing athletes. In March 1997, blood samples were taken from competitors from the world Nordic skiing championships.

"We have to move with the times. We have to fight the problem in a modern, scientific way. I am proposing to oversee the introduction of a modern drug education and drug testing surveillance programme for Irish athletes. This will include blood testing."

If the Minister is to succeed with his plan, there will need to be a substantial increase in the money available for drug testing. According to the Targeting Sporting Challenge In Ireland document, published before the last general election by the Department of Education, Ireland spent a total of Pounds 6,883 on doping tests on high-performance athletes in 1995. No amount of expenditure has been listed for the years 1994, 1993 or 1992.

Only two Irish athletes have tested positive, and both were seen to be innocent breeches of the regulations. Long jumper Jonathon Kron tested positive several years ago at a competition in Salamanca, Spain, while runner Marie McMahon tested positive last year in Atlanta.

Each mistakenly took medication that had ingredients included on the list of banned substances.