Testing of hair follicles for drugs in athletes, a worthwhile idea

By Kayon Raynor

The recent suggestion by Craig Reedie, the new president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to go in the direction of testing hair follicles of athletes in a further attempt to clean up the sport of drug cheats, should be taken very seriously.

It should be taken seriously, not only by Jamaica's athletes, but also our administrators, coaches and most importantly, the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCo).

According to Reedie,  a US multi-million dollar fund, set up by the IOC, should make way for this more effective testing technique.

We can all remember, that eight Jamaicans tested positive in the last eight months. Among the six track and field athletes are Olympic and World Championships medallists Asafa Powell, Veronica Campbell-Brown and Sherone as well as footballer Jermaine Hue and taekwondo fighter Kenneth Edwards.

With the exception of Hue, those cases, which are still pending, came as a result of mainly urine tests.

Currently, WADA is also very dependent on blood sampling, which forms part of its blood passport programme.

Apart from being less invasive than urine and blood testing, my research shows that hair follicle testing is far more reliable, as it can detect drugs up to 90 days after they enter the body; this especially, when it comes to catching athletes using designer drugs, which can exit the body within days.

Only this week, JADCo's doping control officer Dr. Paul Wright told me that this new procedure, which was used by the French authorities, could by more reliable than urine and blood sample testing.

With all that said, I want to suggest to JADCo and our sports administrators to improve and increase their education programme so as to avoid the embarrassment of more Jamaican athletes testing positive, particularly when it appears athletes are careless rather than deliberately cheating.

It is better to be safe than sorry.