MONTREAL (AP) -The new president of the World Anti-Doping Agency criticized Major League Baseball on Wednesday, saying the sport was resisting George Mitchell’s recommendation to transfer drug testing to an independent organization.
A day after the former Senate majority leader testified at a congressional hearing along with baseball commissioner Bud Selig and union head Donald Fehr, new WADA boss John Fahey blistered the sport for loopholes in its drug-testing program.
“Professional baseball’s response to Sen. Mitchell’s report is baffling,” Fahey said in a statement. “To suggest that it might continue to keep its anti-doping testing program in-house … is demeaning to Sen. Mitchell and the congressional committees who view doping as a serious threat to public health.”
Fahey, who took over from Dick Pound on Jan. 1, also challenged baseball’s policy on human growth hormone. Baseball has pledged to adopt any validated urine test but does not test blood. Baseball said there is no commercially available validated test for HGH
“Equally reprehensible is their blatant disregard for the truth,” Fahey said. “Contrary to what they have told Congress this week, there is a reliable test for HGH; the storing of blood is practical, in fact has been effectively in practice for some time in World Anti-Doping Code-compliant testing.”
The WADA statement said commercial kits for HGH blood testing are in development and that it offered to host a meeting between MLB and WADA experts. WADA also said that baseball should store blood for future testing.
Fahey claimed baseball and the players’ union say they will complete negotiations on drug issues by March 1. Thus far, the sides have committed only to discussing Mitchell’s recommendations that are subject to bargaining, which also includes a proposal to increase testing.
In addition, Fahey criticized the increase in exemptions granted to baseball players to use drugs for Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The total increased from 28 in 2006 to 103 last year, according to figures cited at the hearing.
Fahey cited that as a reason for shifting testing to an outside group.
“Accountability would ensure that no loopholes would exist to be exploited by management and players, such as the current system used to get around the amphetamines ban by making attention deficit disorder claims in order to have access to stimulants like Ritalin,” he said. “By not wholly embracing Sen. Mitchell’s recommendations, especially those regarding independent third-party testing and HGH testing, MLB and the MLBPA are essentially thumbing their nose at those who care about the integrity of the game and the millions of youth who are impacted by what the professionals do.”
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