N.Y. Times: New Tool Could Help in Testing for H.G.H.

Since there hasn’t been a steroids thread in a while…

The test uses the same science that detects bone and breast cancer. A laboratory technician takes several milliliters of blood and spins the sample in a centrifuge. The blood is then mixed with chemicals, a reaction occurs and an instrument is used to measure the illumination in the blood.

The intensity of the light, antidoping experts say, signals whether the person has used H.G.H. over the past 10 to 14 days. The procedure is known as the biomarkers test.

Antidoping officials are usually eager to trumpet new testing methods, and skeptics have at times accused them of overstating scientific developments. Nevertheless, the officials maintain that the biomarkers test is a significant advancement over the current test for human growth hormone. That test can only detect H.G.H. that has been used in the previous 24 to 48 hours.

Officials for the World Anti-Doping Agency, which oversees the testing protocols of Olympic athletes and many professional athletes outside the United States, said that after more than a decade of research, the biomarkers test was only months from being put into use on athletes.