23
三月 2015

Spanish anti-doping supports Informed-Sport

Spain’s National Anti-Doping Organisation (AEPSAD) has agreed to support the continued expansion of LGC’s anti-doping testing programme Informed-Sport into the Spanish sports supplements marketplace.
 
LGC has been working with AEPSAD to increase awareness of the risks associated with inadvertent doping as a result of products contaminated with substances prohibited in sport by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
 
AEPSAD proactively advises Spanish athletes and sports organisations on the issue of inadvertent doping and references Informed-Sport as the most effective and widely recognised solution to minimising the risk.
 
In addition to providing AEPSAD with Spanish language education material for its stakeholders, LGC has presented to leading members of the Spanish sports supplements industry and advises it on quality assurance.
 
“We know that there is a risk associated with sports supplements products, and we know there is a very high prevalence of athletes using sports supplements products,” explained Enrique Gomez Bastida, AEPSAD Director.
 
“If an athlete is going to take a supplement then they must make sure it has been tested for banned substances, otherwise there is a very real risk they could fail a doping test. There have been many cases of this.
 
“Our advice is to only take products that are registered on Informed-Sport. This gives the quality assurance an athlete needs and guarantees that the batch they are using has been tested,” added Bastida.
 
“We are also encouraging Spanish sport to deliver the same message to its athletes, and to only engage with supplements suppliers that register products on Informed-Sport.
 
“The new World Anti-Doping Code recognises inadvertent doping as a result of sports supplements, but an athlete must now prove not only that the product is contaminated but that they also checked it had been tested. Otherwise they will be banned, even if they can show the product was contaminated.”
 
To become registered on Informed-Sport, a product must pass a rigorous audit of its ingredients, raw materials and manufacturing process, as well as a series of tests in LGC’s anti-doping laboratory. Once registered, every batch produced must be tested before release to market.
 
“Spain is a leading sports nation and, like everywhere else in the world, its athletes consume sports supplements to aid training and performance – it is vitally important that they only use products that have been audited and undergo ongoing testing for banned substances,” said Terence O’Rorke, LGC’s Sector Manager for Informed-Sport.
  
“Research over the last decade has shown that the risk of contamination exists in this industry. Athletes are, therefore, at risk of inadvertently failing a test if they are not extremely careful.
Everyone associated with the use of sports supplements – from athletes, coaches, sports organisations and the manufacturers themselves – need to make sure that this risk is minimised.
 
“Surveys have been conducted to show that this issue exists across the world and Informed-Sport has developed into the globally-recognised programme to manage these risks.”
 
Informed-Sport was established in 2008 with the support of UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) and is recognised by some of the leading National Anti-Doping Organisations (NADOs) across the world.
 
As well as AEPSAD and UKAD, this also includes the Dutch Anti-Doping Authority, Swiss Anti-Doping, Anti-Doping Norway and the South African Institute of Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS).
 
LGC has already conducted testing for several Spanish supplements brands and will continue to provide support to both AEPSAD and the Spanish sports organisations.

For more information on Informed-Sport watch the 'Managing the risk' video here.