Lance Armstrong Cleared of Doping Charges

[kamilyun]

Straffo and others...

The test that has been used on Armstrong and others (some Belgian triathelete got "busted" too) has not been reported in full detail in a peer reviewed journal.  If anyone can find a complete experimental description of how the test works, the standards they use to show differentiation between EPO types...then I'll believe it.

There was a brief note or communication in Nature Biotechnology that I read.  It was not very convincing.

Contrast the testing/reporting they do with an FDA approved drug.  Literally tens of thousands of people participate through several phases of drug development.

I'm not saying Armstrong was clean...I just don't think that the test they are still developing should be used by the media/public to convict an athelete.

As a side note...one of the common HIV tests gives false positives as well (there are a couple...I forget which one it is...) I'd hate to be on the receiving end of that "positive test"...

[kamilyun]

Originally posted by straffo
BTW I should remember that Lance got caught in 1999 but produced a document "a posteriori" violating the regulation of the UCI ... and the UCI accepted the document as valid violating it's own rules !.

Was this the cortizone cream he got "busted" for?  You are allowed to use over the counter cortisone creams (anti-itch, anti-blister creams) in cycling.  He tested "positive" for traces of this which was of no beneficial value.

Keep in mind how ridiculous some of the anti-doping rules are:  Jonathan Vaughters (riding for Credit Agricole?) got stung by a bee on his face.  It was swollen to the size of a basketball.  He was not allowed to get a cortisone shot to reduce the inflamation.

Sometimes the UCI/WADA is quite overzealous........