| This month, some of the favorites to win the Tour de | | | | proteins called antibodies that attach to EPO. The |
| France endurance bicycle race were prevented from | | | | antibodies are put on a special plate, and the test urine |
| entering because of suspicion that they may have | | | | is added. If the urine contains EPO, a band consisting |
| taken drugs or had blood transfusions to raise their red | | | | of the antibody tied to the EPO appears on the special |
| blood cell counts. That brings up the accusation that | | | | plate. |
| Lance Armstrong, possibly the most dominant | | | | Researchers at Catholic University of Leuven in |
| endurance bicycle racer of all time, took blood boosting | | | | Belgium showed that "this widely used test can |
| drugs when he won the first of his seven Tour De | | | | occasionally lead to the false-positive detection of |
| France victories. | | | | EPO in postexercise, protein-rich urine." Any athlete |
| The allegation is that Lance Armstrong's urine, kept in | | | | can have a false positive test with this procedure. |
| storage for six years, had a positive test for EPO, a | | | | Most people with healthy kidneys do not spill protein in |
| restricted drug that raises blood levels of | | | | their urine, but after strenuous exercise, athletes with |
| oxygen-carrying and performance-enhancing | | | | normal kidneys often spill protein into their urine. For |
| hemoglobin. An article published in this month's issue of | | | | example, more than 80 percent of runners spilled |
| the prestigious medical journal, Blood (June 15, 2006) | | | | protein into their urines after running the Boston |
| shows that after competing in any athletic event, any | | | | Marathon. The authors state that the antibodies that |
| athlete could have a false positive urine test for EPO. | | | | are used in the test can attach to any protein in the |
| The test for EPO is done by injecting the protein, EPO, | | | | urine, not just EPO. |
| into animals so that their bodies produce special | | | | |