League to go slow on testing for HGH
Won’t implement program, punishment until 2014-15 season ‘at earliest,’ Daly says
The NHL is at least a season away from implementing a drug-testing program to detect human growth hormone, deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in an email Wednesday. “Our Performance Enhancing Substances Program Committee (PESPC) has discussed on multiple occasions over the summer the process for development and implementation of an HGH testing program,” Daly said. “Part of our initial action plan is to educate our Players about the issue and about our agreed-upon intention to develop and implement a reliable testing plan. I expect that education portion of the process to take place during Training Camp and over the first several months of the season. Development and actual implementation of a testing program will take a little more time. While I can’t give you an exact timetable, I think it is safe to assume no testing program with disciplinary consequences will be in place prior to the 2014/15 season at the earliest.” The NFL has stepped forward as the second of the four major sports leagues in North America to either test for HGH or tentatively agree to testing, according to a players union memo made public this week. The NFL union has “tentatively agreed” to HGH testing, the memo said, and has also agreed to a protocol of punishment for positive tests. The testing and punishment will be in place for the 2013 season, with the league joining Major League Baseball in testing for HGH. The NBA discussed implementing HGH testing as recently as April, while the NHL has continued its own discussions throughout the summer, with some progress towards action. One of the most contentious issues in HGH testing involves administering blood samples, and the safety and reliability of the testing procedure itself. The NFL will reportedly require one blood sample from every player during training camp for the purpose of a “population study” — data that will help determine what level of HGH usage will entail discipline.
Afterwards, the league will randomly choose eight players from five teams each week during the regular season for testing.
Baseball adjusted its drug-testing program during the annual owners meetings in January to include HGH testing for the 2013 season; at the same time, the NHL was finalizing its collective bargaining agreement following the four-month lockout. The new agreement established the PESPC.
“This area of the science is extremely technical and complicated and we all have to be comfortable with the reliability of any program we develop and ultimately implement.” BILL DALY NHL DEPUTY COMMISSIONER
Daly said the NHL will not implement any HGH testing program until the league and its players union feel comfortable with it.
“While this is an issue that we are committed to working through with our Players’ Association, it’s not an area that we believe we have any material issues or problems with, and it’s certainly not an issue that we feel compelled to be “leaders” on,” Daly said.
“This area of the science is extremely technical and complicated and we all have to be comfortable with the reliability of any program we develop and ultimately implement.”