Publication

Ruma on the ZDF Internet site.

8 March 2006 | Sport
Unambiguous tests

New procedure to revolutionise drug checks
A new marker system improves detection of the use of drugs in sports.
“Our marker system is a global innovation. We claim it cannot be manipulated and we’re sure of this after ten years research and over 40,000 analyses” says the inventor of the new process, Prof. Ruprecht Keller.

“The test could revolutionise drugs checks” the head of the central lab of Cologne’s municipal clinics stated. The respected drugs testing lab of the Deutschen Sporthochschule in Cologne and the Nationale Anti Doping Agentur Deutschland (Nada) in Bonn have shown great interest. “The humiliating procedure of urinating in the presence of someone else is no longer necessary” says Keller.

Proof against deception
“We use wholly non-poisonous substances as markers”. They are administered in the form of a drink. Half an hour later the candidate submits his or her urine and the marker substances become undetectable in the body shortly thereafter.

“The humiliating procedure of urinating in the presence of someone else is no longer necessary” says Keller. Swindling using someone else’s urine is impossible as the urine can be clearly traced using the marker. Even watering urine down is immediately detected. “We reduce the error rate and thus introduce greater reliability in the anti-drug use field” says Keller. He has patented the process.

The sports market niche
Employers have occasionally used drug tests according to press spokeswoman Monika Wetzke. The Deutsche Bundesbahn, the Bundesverteidigungsministerium, some TueV offices and Munich’s Oberlandesgericht are currently considering introducing the testing process according to Wetzke.

Keller is now trying to penetrate sports medicine as a new market. “We would love to enter this market“.
NADA managing director Roland Augustin said “We take a positive view of this procedure. To determine whether it could be used in drugs tests further evaluation is needed, however“.

“This process could stop manipulation” Hans Geyer claims.

Interest is certainly extant
The Zentrum fuer Praeventive Dopingforschung der Deutschen Sporthochschule Cologne, one of the two labs in Germany accredited by NADA, takes a positive view of the new urine marker process too.
“It prevents manipulation. That’s why it’s already in use in drug analysis“says the deputy lab boss Hans Geyer.
“A major benefit is that there’s no humiliation involved any longer as there’s no need to supervise the urine collection”. Consideration and evaluation to date, which will be concluded in late March, indicates that this is a “very promising” process.