GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has committed its resources towards catching steroid users at the 2012 London Olympics. GSK plans on conducting 6,250 anti-doping blood and urine tests over a two-week period at next year’s Olympics.
GSK is proud of its participation in the anti-steroid crusade. They recently unveiled a huge London 2012 logo on the exterior of their London headquarters.
“We want to celebrate the role we will play in bringing science to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” according to GSK CEO Andrew Witty. Witty feels that the anti-doping tests can make London “the cleanest possible Games.”
Athletes at the 2008 Beijing Olympics were subjected to 3,667 drug tests. The Beijing Olympics only found adverse analytical findings for 14 people . Anti-doping advocates claimed victory. However, some scientists were critical of the testing methods used in Beijing.
“Cheaters evade detection, innocents are falsely accused and sport is ultimately suffering,” according to Professor Donald Berry of the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. “The anti-doping forces are running almost as amok as the dopers themselves. [The] difference is that the dopers know what they’re doing.”
GSK hopes its participation with King’s College London to operate a WADA accredited laboratory during the 2012 London Olympics will be an improvement upon Beijing.
In July 2011, GSK announced a deal to share confidential company information with WADA regarding potentially performance-enhancing drugs in the GSK development pipelin. WADA “scientists” will now be able to work closer-than-ever with GSK researchers to catch doped athletes at the 2012 London Olympics.
Source:
Malta Independent. (October 9, 2011). GSK to carry 6,250 anti-doping tests at London 2012. Retrieved from http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=133400
