From the Charlotte Observer’s Charles Chandler :
The World Anti-Doping Agency says it’s close to a breakthrough in the fight against human growth hormone abuse by athletes — the introduction this year of the first widely distributed blood testing kits for HGH.
The NFL, which does not blood-test players and is virtually defenseless against HGH, says it would consider using the test.
But, firmly opposed is NFL Players Association executive director Gene Upshaw (above), who says he doesn’t trust the world’s foremost anti-doping organization.
“I have no confidence in WADA or their kits,” he told the Observer in an e-mail. “I have my doubts about WADA and their history. I am not willing to accept them as an authority on this.
“The league may have some interest, but it will not be done without approval of the players.”
“I don’t know where he’s coming from,” Pound said of Upshaw in a telephone interview. “The HGH test is good. The science is good. It makes it look like he doesn’t want blood testing.
“You can’t look at a cross section of the NFL and its players and not come to a conclusion, even as a non-specialist, that some of this is being used.”
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league was “open to considering” the HGH testing kits if WADA makes them available.
Which, if the union’s history is anything to go by, means the WADA approved HGH testing will be enforced if that’s what the league wants.