Tuesday, May 13, 2008

WADA to Sue Floyd Landis to Recover 1.3 Million

Trust but Verify www.trustbut.blogspot.com has reported that if Floyd Landis loses his appeal to the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) then WADA intends to sue him to recover 1.3 million dollars WADA spent in legal expenses to defend the AAA Majority decision.

Well. This should prove very interesting and informative. If WADA does sue Floyd Landis for damages the case will enter a legal realm where some interesting new questions will be asked. WADA for the first time will be outside of the realm of the IOC umbrella. WADA and the CAS are both inventions of the IOC and several players, including Richard Young and Dick Pound served both WADA and the CAS at the same time. This incestuous relationship insures conflictual interests beneficial to prosecution involved in sport doping arbitration. This incestuous relationship offers unheard of protections to prosecutors to withhold evidence critical to the defense. This incestuous relationship allows WADA accredited laboratories the opportunity to destroy evidence without sanction. This incestuous relationship allows WADA accredited labs to perform tests without a semblance of competence. This incestuous relationship allows WADA accredited labs to make mistakes without correction. This incestuous relationship allows "departures" in International Standards, which cause Adverse Analytical Findings. This incestuous relationship allows laboratory personnel to work on both "A" and "B" samples in violation of WADA code. All is lawful as long as USADA in cooperation with WADA and the CAS "win" cases against athletes.

Outside of the protective sphere of the IOC, WADA may find life a little harder. To sue Floyd Landis a jurisdiction would have to be selected outside of the IOC domain. Floyd Landis would for the first time be afforded due process rights and the option of cross-examination of witnesses. Floyd Landis would be able to ask to see evidence in the possession of WADA, USADA, and LNDD that were denied by USADA CEO Travis T. Tygart and AAA Panel Majority members Partice Brunet and Richard McLaren.

Floyd Landis would be able to interrogate Jacques de Ceaurriz laboratory director of WADA accredited Chatenay-Malabry laboratory LNDD about possible LNDD laboratory personnel press leaks to tabloid magazine l'Equipe. Floyd Landis could also find the person or persons responsible for the "white out" and other deletions found on his Lab Document Package. Floyd Landis could also question Jacques De Ceaurriz and others about deleted mass spectra files from the Stage 17 GC/C/IRMS tests. Floyd Landis could force the French government to release the identity of the person or persons who hacked the LNDD laboratory computers. Floyd Landis could interrogate the people who attempted to frame Floyd Landis as the hacker of LNDD's computer and publicly examine their motives. Landis could question the person or persons who attempted to lock out Floyd Landis' representative Paul Scott during the alternate "B" sample testing. Floyd Landis could ask to see all of the COFRAC LNDD WADA accreditation audits. Floyd Landis could ask the person or persons who wrote the AFLD decision what scientific basis the decision was based upon and why his defense submission was ignored by the AFLD arbitration panel. Floyd Landis could expose the so secret volume of scientific evidence Francesco Botre and the AAA arbitrators found so critical to the AAA Panel Majority decision. Barring a bizarre gag order by the court, any point germane to the Floyd Landis case would be fair game for public examination. Can WADA, USADA, and the CAS risk such exposure?

John Fahey please sue Floyd Landis. There are so many unanswered questions about this case. Inquiring minds want to know. But don't be surprised if the real world does not work like the WADA world. WADA stands to lose allot more than money. The reputation of USADA, WADA and the CAS will be sullied. Floyd Landis spent more than a million dollars on his defense to expose your incestuous relationships. Floyd Landis wants the world to know the truth about USADA, WADA, and the CAS. What better place than a court of law?

Thursday, May 1, 2008

False Positive Tests are Real

The bizarre tempo of cycling has not slowed a bit. Poor David Millar is depressed; time flies so quickly. Poor David is so overwhelmed by his future participation in the 2008 Tour de France. Millar has invested so much time and energy, "blood, sweat, and tears." Somehow it is hard to feel empathy for poor David Millar, a confessed EPO user and cheat. Especially when Levi Leipheimer, a rider above reproach is denied an invite to ride the 2008 Tour de France by ASO.

But Millar seems a bit off his rocker these days in spite of his expertise in doping. Millar expects us to believe that WADA has simplified the approach to doping and he blames the athletic federations for complicating the issues. Right. WADA has simplified the process of banning athletes from competition by writing an incoherent code which denies athletes' due process rights and by using antiquated science expressed in vague WADA Technical Documents. WADA refuses to admit that steroid research has found that individual genetic differences in testosterone enzymes have many effects on testosterone/epitestosterone screening tests. Including "false positive" results in the absence of doping. These "false positive" results were reported by Jenny Jakobsson Schultz of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. These "false positive" results were ignored by most main stream media because Dr. Schultz also found that some people can take synthetic testosterone and not be detected by standard testosterone/epitestosterone screens. Typical of the anti-doping crusade is the hysteria and focus on the issue of people who have a "license to dope" without detection. However, it is taboo to mention people who test positive although they never use PEDs. Reform of the present anti-doping structure is impossible as long as the anti-doping crusade refuses to admit that "false positives" are an inherent factor in PED testing. People will be falsely accused who are innocent. This is a fact of life.

John Fahey of WADA might be considered leader of the "black knights" a group of WADA anti-doping fanatics who refuse to accept this "false positive" reality. Dr. Jenny Jakobsson Schultz and her colleagues the "white knights" should be invited to re-write WADA Technical Document 2004 EAAS and other portions of the WADA code that pertain to her expertise in testosterone testing. Dr. Schultz and her colleagues should emphasise new scientific discoveries in steroid research and their applications to WADA accredited lab testing, including genetic testing if applicable.

Are we expecting too much for WADA to admit to the reality that scientific research is proceeding at such a fast pace that it is almost impossible to keep pace with the new discoveries in PEDs and the methods to detect them? Yes WADA does recognize the threat of Victor Conte and BALCO, designer steroids, masking agents, techniques of blood doping, and the possibility of genetic engineering of future athletes to enhance performance. But what WADA refuses to adknowledge is that they make mistakes too, based on outdated information and outdated criteria for testing. If one athletic career is destroyed because of a WADA mistake which results in a "false positive" test result whether based on incompetent lab testing or by ignorance; then the whole system is failing. Pretending that the problem does not exist will not make it go away. Better is to address the issue with an open mind and formulate a plan to deal with the problem. Only then will the anti-doping crusade work ensuring fairness for everyone.