Story by Eric.
(This is the 29th part of a long series titled, "Why You Shouldn't Believe Marion Jones". This series depicts the life and times of a (former) woman sprinter whose lies and cover-ups about doping in sport continue even through this day.)
This is the concluding section on the EPO testing - the first "real" exposure Marion Jones had to being materially connected to performance-enhancing drugs.
(Continued from Volume 28)
The check-and-balance system came into being in early 2005 when a few of WADA’s accredited laboratories revealed to them that “in certain rare circumstances” EPO which was produced naturally in the body had the capability of shifting into r-EPO and therefore have the possibility of yielding false positive results.
The independent laboratory used as a WADA-prescribed check-and-balance in conjunction with the UCLA laboratory to provide independent confirmation or dissent in adverse sample findings, also drew a conclusion from the “A”-sample which corresponded to Marion Jones’s chain of command number, namely that the “A”-sample it reviewed following the handling of the UCLA laboratory showed positive signs of r-EPO in concert with performance-enhancing drugs usage.
The WADA EPO testing system has had critique from scholars and scientists who have stated the testing process is not fool-proof.
“Wada has issued a number of clarification documents, in which they've indicated to laboratories that they must get another lab to look at the results before they issue it.
“They have these safety measures in place because they started to notice that in cases where they would read the data and say, 'yes, synthetic EPO is definitely being used', naturally-occurring EPO can also be in there as an aberration.
“They're saying that if the test and its assessment is properly applied, then it's valid. But they're also saying that there's room for error.
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