Assertions by Major League Baseball that there is no reliable test for human growth hormone may have been reduced to a myth Monday.
Anti-doping agency officials on both sides of the Atlantic touted the case of a British rugby player as proof that HGH can be detected through blood testing. Terry Newton, who was tested in November, did not contest the result and was banned from the sport for two years by the United Kingdom Anti-Doping Agency, The Times of London reported. His rugby club has voided the remainder of Newton's two-year contract.
Newton is believed to be the first pro athlete tripped up by a blood test aimed at detecting HGH, which baseball has banned since 2005 but has not been the subject of testing.
The latest development was lauded by Travis Tygart, chief executive of the United States Anti-Doping Agency.
"All of us who have helped develop a test wouldn't put it in place if it wasn't forensically sound and reliable." Tygart told the New York Daily News . "Particularly in (Newton's) case, it's proof positive the test works."
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