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WADA Statement on France Televisions ABP Documentary

2015-05-12 10:42 WADA

May 11, 2015 - Since WADA’s statement on the France Télévisions 3 May documentary regarding a study on the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP), new information has been brought to our attention regarding the study.

WADA is now aware of the five complete profiles produced by the study. Of those five, two would have been considered “positive” cases under the ABP model if properly used, and three would have been “suspicious” cases leading to targeted testing.

WADA accepts that the documentary did raise questions over the ability of athletes to dope by taking minimal amounts of performance enhancing substances without testing positive. We are very alert to ‘micro-dosing’; it is an issue that we are exploring in great detail with experts from across the anti-doping community, including in particular those responsible for enhancing the passport.

The ABP, when used as part of an intelligent anti-doping programme, is a strong tool that helps to protect the rights of clean athletes across the world. We remain alert, however, to the need to continue our work with experts to enhance the tool as part of the progress of anti-doping work globally, and, as such, we will continue to strengthen the ABP so that clean athletes and the watching public retain full confidence in the anti-doping system.

Lastly, we understand that ethical permission was given for this study. WADA accepts that there may be studies that use humans to explore the effect of performance enhancing substances. In such cases, they must be subjected to full ethical reviews that include monitoring of the study and the results. WADA has approved one such research project.

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