2012 London Olympics organisers develop new laboratory to detect doping
All measures are being taken to keep the 2012 London Olympics drug free. The most recent development in this regard is a new laboratory that will make the work of the Olympic organisers easier by detecting athletes that have taken drugs in order to boost
their performance.
The laboratory has been developed by GlaxoSmithKline that holds the honour of being the biggest drug maker in England. The lab has finished completion of the lab and all that is left is the testing process to begin. The organizers of the Olympics have the
liberty of staffing the lab with up to 100 scientists who will find the facility equipped with the latest tools and gadgets that will make it easy work for the organizers to detect the use of drugs in participating athletes. The laboratory is designed and
equipped to make it both highly sensitive and fast with results.
David Cowan, who heads the Drug Control Centre at King's College London and is in charge of the 2012 London Olympics anti drug campaign, made the following statement: “We have a state-of-the-art facility, we have the best detection systems going, we're right
up to date with the science, and if athletes know you've got good testing and good detection systems, it really has a deterrent effect."
Under the leadership of Cowan, 5000 tests will be conducted on the approximately 10,000 athletes that will take part in the London Olympics. These tests will aim at finding out whether the athletes are using performance enhancing drugs.
In past years there were not many variants of drugs available in the market. However, now several different types of drugs are available to athletes and include steroids, blood boosters, stimulants and human growth hormone to name a few.
According to Andy Parkinson, the chief executive of the UK Anti-Doping organisation, athletes now use far more tricky tactics to avoid detection. Even the sophisticated equipment available to authorities is unable to find the culprits.
With the city of London hosting the Olympic Games for a third time, the organisers are making sure that all steps are taken to make the prestigious sporting event a success.
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