Chch to bid for drug testing

Press, 16 January 1986, Page 7

Chch to bid for drug testing

The pathology department at Christchurch Hospital might do drug testing for athletes in the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland. A proposal has been put together to give to the Commonwealth Games subcommittee for consideration. It did not mean that Christchurch would get to do the testing, said the head of the pathology department’s toxicology section, Mr John Sharman. He said there were two other laboratories — one in Auckland, and one in another centre — which would also be applying for the job. A critical factor for

Christchurch to get the work was the need for a $250,000 mass spectrometer, for which money would have to be found, he said. Any laboratory wanting official accreditation for drug testing for sports events needed this equipment. The laboratory would not be recognised by the International Athletics Federation as capable of doing the work until it had the accreditation, he said. The laboratory in Christchurch had been doing drug testing for sporting events for the last 10 years.

In the 1974 Commonwealth Games, it collected specimens from ath-

letes, although the testing was done at a private laboratory in Wellington. Analyses were done for the New Zealand Games a few years ago, and for several cycling events since then. Mr Sharman went to Brisbane for the last Commonwealth Games, to learn more about the testing. The money needed for the mass spectrometer would probably not come from the health vote, as drug testing for sporting events was not a health matter, he said. Although the equipment would be useful in routine hospital work, other equipment needed for the hospital took priority.

The medical superintendent for Christchurch Hospital, Dr David Andrews, said that the item had been on the board’s loan programme for some time. Mr Sharman said there were a number of organisations which would be approached for funding, such as the Golden Kiwi Lottery Board and the Ministry of Recreation and Sport, but it may not be within their limits. Sponsorship from large companies was another alternative, he said. There was not much time to prepare for the testing if the sub-committee chose Christchurch for the job. Every drug likely to be abused by athletes would

have to be checked for, and the laboratory would have to have the means to detect them. Procedures for the handling of samples would need to be worked out. The sub-committee should make its decision in the next two months, he said.

Mr Sharman hoped to go to London to study procedures in drug testing for the Edinburgh Games. The fact that testing was being done in London instead of Edinburgh meant that there was no argument against Christchurch getting the job when the Games were in Auckland. Somebody from the laboratory should also go to the next Olympic Games in Korea, he said.