Must Reads: WADA considers rule changes on clenbuterol

BBC: WADA to consider rule changes on clenbuterol

The World Anti-Doping Agency will meet this weekend to discuss possible rule chances for clenbuterol, something that could have major implications in the ongoing doping case involving 2010 Tour de France champion Alberto Contador.

The BBC reported that WADA officials will consider relaxing the absolute ban on clenbuterol and introduce a minimum threshold on the drug.

“Personally, I think that having some threshold would give some more uniformity to the test, but pragmatically we don’t want to limit the sensitivity of tests,” said Prof. David Cowan from King’s College London told BBC News. Cowan is in charge of anti-doping at next summer’s London Olympic Games.

“Having a threshold as we do for many substances is a way to get some uniformity so we don’t necessarily detect just one molecule.

“In any type of forensic investigation, it isn’t only the presence but also the circumstances which are important when determining a case,” he told BBC News.

Contador tested positive for a minute quantity of clenbuterol during the 2010 Tour and his defense team has argued that he had eaten a contaminated steak that had been brought in from Spain.

The Spanish cycling federation cleared him, but WADA and the UCI appealed the decision. The Court of Arbitration in Sport is scheduled to hear the Contador case in November. Read More