A GREYHOUND handler has been caught trying to pass off his own urine as his dog’s in an attempt to deceive Irish doping testers. During an analysis of 6,000 urine samples by the Irish Greyhound Board (IGB), it was discovered that one person had sent in a human sample.

The samples were being checked by testers at the National Greyhound Laboratory for artificial human erythropoietin (EPO), the blood-doping agent used by athletes in endurance sports to boost their performances. It has long been rumoured that some Irish trainers use the agent on their greyhounds.

Three samples tested positive for the synthetic version of human EPO, indicating that the dogs had been administered the banned substance, which boosts the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood by increasing red blood cells.

The fourth tested positive for the EPO that occurs naturally in humans, which is different both from the manufactured kind and from the type greyhounds have in their bodies. The only possible explanation was that human urine had been switched for the dog’s sample.

“The fourth [sample] represented an unexpected, but decidedly welcome, outcome of the present work in that it involved the detection of endogenous HuEPO in a sample submitted as greyhound urine,” said the study, published in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology.

“In the subsequent control-committee hearing, it was determined that this arose from the submission of human urine as greyhound urine to the control stewards.”

“It was the first time anywhere in the world that has occurred,” said Jim Healy, of the National Greyhound Laboratory, one of the authors of the study.

The greyhounds’ positive samples were also the first cases detected in the world. Ireland has the most rigorous drug testing for the animals worldwide.

Before the introduction of new testing methods, it had been difficult to obtain “definitive confirmatory evidence of such sample switching” in the case of greyhounds, according to the authors. The new test is able to distinguish between the different types of EPO.

Naturally occurring human EPO is produced by the kidney and promotes the formation of red blood cells in the bone marrow. An increase in the level of EPO in the human body leads to more production of red blood cells, increasing aerobic endurance.

Using DNA technology, EPO has been synthetically produced for use in people with types of anaemia. This has been misused as a performance-enhancing drug by endurance athletes such as cyclists, triathlon and marathon runners. The substance, which is different from the naturally occurring version, has been banned by the Tour de France, the Olympics, and other sports organisations.

The only type of EPO that can be given to greyhounds is recombinant human EPO. “(It) is the only EPO that is commercially available, and it could be abused in greyhound sport to stimulate red blood cell production and increase haemoglobin levels, thereby improving the aerobic-energy capacity of a greyhound,” said the report. “Similar fears have been expressed with regard to equine sport.”

In the case where naturally occurring human EPO was found in the “greyhound” sample, that meant one of two scenarios, said Healy. “One is administration of a human blood-product which would have been very harmful to the animal, so that wasn’t a possibility. The second is sample switching,” he said.

The study also highlighted a security problem when taking greyhound samples. “Switching of urine samples is clearly a possibility that must be avoided, and particular care is required during the period of waiting before a sample is obtained from a dog,” it said.

All four EPO cases were dealt with by the control committee of the IGB, said the authors. In the switching case, a penalty was imposed.

Details of two of the other positives emerged during the controversy over the dismissal of Aidan Tynan as chief executive of the IGB. The board’s disciplinary committee fined trainers Paul Hennessy and John Kiely €1,000 each in November 2005 and forfeited prize-money when they admitted that their dogs — Barefoot Jenny and Westmead Rumble, respectively — had been given EPO.

At the time the board decided not to publish details of the positive test results, because it had not informed trainers and owners that it had begun testing for the drug.

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