You
all might be interested in exactly how the FEI handles the situation. The
following is excerpted from their latest news letter:
5. Some facts about
medication control in the FEI.
SAMPLING - up to 2000 samples are
collected per year for testing; about 1300 of these are from Europe (FEI Groups
1 and 2) and the remainder from events in the rest of the world. Blood and urine
samples are collected by an experienced vet who follows a careful protocol to
ensure that no tampering of the samples can occur.
LABORATORY ANALYSIS -
the samples are sent to an FEI approved laboratory, which is experienced in
dealing with horse material. The laboratory then reports the result directly and
confidentially to the FEI Veterinary Department in Lausanne. Positive samples
- these are reported to the FEI Legal Department and an opinion as to the type
of drug and whether it is on the Prohibited Substance list is sought from the
Medication Sub-committee.
DECISION MAKING ñ all the information on
positive samples is passed to the Judicial Committee who then decide on the
outcome of the case and what sanction should be imposed. The outcome of their
discussions are regularly reported in the FEI Bulletin. The judgments and
sanctions are carefully considered, based on legal principles, and involve an
appeal process should this be necessary.
RESULTS - From the 2000 samples
examined each year the positive rate is approximately 3%, most of which (85%)
are due to pain killing and sedative drugs. About 70% of samples are taken from
Jumping horses and so proportionately the highest number of positives come from
that discipline; 7% are taken from Dressage and Eventing competitions with 4%
from Endurance; the rest come from Driving, Vaulting and
Reining.
EVENTING ñ There has been no demonstrable increase in the
positive rate in any discipline, including Eventing, over the last 12 months nor
in the types of positives detected.
The medication control programme in
the FEI is kept as transparent as possible and the results disseminated widely
within the FEI and its participating disciplines. The programme (as the Press
Release indicated) is constantly under review. Its ultimate aim is to protect
the reputation of equestrian competition as a clean
sport.
Now,
the 4% of 2000 drug tests (80 each) for the endurance competition is for the
world. For Europe there were about 52 tests and for the "rest of the world"
there 28 tests done. I am positive in stating that the AERC did a greater
percentage of testing than the FEI Endurance people even thought
about.
Read
the above very carefully and you will see that the AERC really is a leader not
only with a zero tolerance but in the way we spell out how we handle our problem
and how we get the job done.
