Chapter[ X. Review of the Major League Baseball Joint Drug Prevention and
Treatment Program ]
Section[ B. 4. e. Types of Tests Permitted ]
e. Types of Tests Permitted
Under the joint program, testing violations can be established only as the result of
a positive urine test. There currently is no scientifically reliable urine test for human growth
549 WADA standards require that: (1) a request for a therapeutic use exemption
application must be submitted in advance rather than after a positive drug test; (2) the use must
be necessary to treat a chronic medical condition and such that an athlete’s health would be
significantly impaired if use was not permitted; (3) the exemption would not enhance athletic
performance beyond restoring the athlete to normal health; (4) there must not be any reasonable
therapeutic alternative to the prohibited substance; and (5) the medical condition being treated
must not be a consequence of prior non-therapeutic use of any prohibited substance.
550 See supra at 106-08.
275
hormone. As a result, the program, like all similar drug testing programs, does not provide an
effective deterrent to use of that performance enhancing substance.
As is discussed elsewhere in this report, many players are well aware of this fact.
Our discussions with scientists and an informal survey of experts in the field suggest that a valid
urine test for human growth hormone is not expected to be developed in the near future. An
approved blood test for human growth hormone recently became available, but its limitations are
such that its practical utility is doubtful.
As noted previously, the programs in all of the major professional sports leagues
in the United States are limited to urine testing. In 2006, the Commissioner’s Office funded an
ongoing, 3-year study to develop a urine test for human growth hormone.
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