French Anti-Doping Agency Will Stop at Nothing to Implicate Lance Armstrong in Steroid Use
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French Violates Confidentiality Rules by Commenting on Armstrong Doping Tests
The French anti-doping agency violated confidentiality rules by commenting publicly on a doping sample obtained from cyclist Lance Armstrong. Jean-Pierre Verdy, the operating chief for the Agence Française de Lutte contre le Dopage (AFLD), told a Reuters reporter that the 8-time winner of France’s Tour de France was “surprised” by the unannounced request for a hair sample on March 17, 2009. Verdy made the comments after an AFLD press conference the following day. "He was surprised we asked for a hair sample, he asked some questions."
AFLD President Pierre Bordry told reporters during the press conference that the French anti-doping agency just learned that Armstrong was training in in Beaulieu-sur-Mer in southern France and immediately rushed to obtain hair, blood and urine samples from him. "He must know that he is like everybody else," said Bordry apparently oblivious to indications suggesting Armstrong has been specifically targeted by anti-doping testers. “To have done this test yesterday was a good way to make him realize that he is like everyone else.”
Lance Armstrong criticized the AFLD’s allegation that he was “surprised” by the hair sample request via a Twitter message posted after the AFLD press conference. “I'm never surprised anymore,” wrote Armstrong. ”What does surprise me is that AFLD feels the need to publicly comment on confidential matters.” Verdy reported that the hair sampling "troubled [Armstrong] quite a lot"; if it did, it may have been because the anti-doping testers “butchered” Armstrong’s hair requiring him to get a buzz cut.
Steroid testing involving hair sampling is permitted under French law. But the results are not recognized by international agencies governing doping and/or cycling. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) currently only use blood and urine tests to detect prohibited substances. Hair testing is simply not a reliable method for detecting doping agents.
“To date hair testing is not considered to be sufficiently reliable for sanctioning anti-doping violations by the vast majority of the experts that WADA consulted,” according to WADA spokesman Frederic Donze in an email to the Associated Press. “However, hair testing can provide valuable information that can lead to target testing by anti-doping organizations, for example.”
This brings into question the purpose of obtaining hair samples from Lance Armstrong that could not be used to prove a positive doping result anyway. The hair test is also very expensive costing approximately $500 Euros per test.
The real reasons the French anti-doping agency (AFLD) made a big issue out of Lance Armstrong’s hair sampling test may be somewhat more nefarious. The AFLD discussed Lance Armstrong as it released the results of its hair sampling study that purportedly revealed the widespread use of anabolic steroids in various sports, including cycling. The 2008 study randomly selected 138 athletes from football, rugby, cycling and athletics and found 22 contained traces of prohibited anabolic steroids in their hair samples. Most of the positive results involved the commonly used anti-aging supplement DHEA which has proven relatively useless as a performance enhancement agent. Only three samples allegedly tested positive for elevated testosterone use. Was the AFLD trying to implicate Lance Armstrong?
Given the unreliability and lack of validity of this doping method, the results are, for all intents and purposes, meaningless. DHEA and testosterone are naturally-occurring steroids in the human body. The determination of the origin of DHEA or testosterone detected via hair sampling may prevent widespread adoption of the anti-doping procedure for these substances. The actions by the AFLD represent a calculated and contrived attempt to revisit the issue of Lance Armstrong and rumors of doping.
Sources
“Armstrong’s hair tested in new anti-doping effort,” March 18, 2009
“A bad hair day for Lance Armstrong,” March 18, 2009
“Agency finds traces of banned steroid in French athletes,” March 18, 2009
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