Published: Jan 21, 2014
- Author: Jon Evans
Scientists from the UK, Ireland, France and Switzerland are developing a completely novel way to test for banned substances such as drugs and hormones in horses and cattle. Rather than try to detect the banned substances themselves, they are looking to use metabolomics techniques such as liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry to identify the biological effects of the substances.
‘We are developing an entirely new approach based on monitoring the physiological effects of banned drugs, rather than directly detecting the presence of those drugs,’ explains Mark Mooney at Queen’s University Belfast’s Institute for Global Food Security, which is one of the partners in the project. ‘By identifying the unique biochemical fingerprints that banned substances leave behind in an illicitly treated animal's blood or urine, we will be able to quickly identify horses or cattle that have been treated with an illegal drug.’
This new approach should allow large numbers of animals to be screened more quickly and efficiently than is currently possible. In addition, it should help regulators keep up with the introduction of new substances, as the biological effects of new substances will be similar to those of older substances. ‘Any animal in which the biological response of a banned substance is detected would then be singled-out for further tests to identify exactly which illicit substances are present,’ says Mooney.
This new testing approach is being developed under the DeTECH21 project, which runs for the next two years and is receiving funding worth €1.6 million, most of which is being provided by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research. The project is being led by the Irish Equine Centre in County Kildare, which hopes this new testing approach will revolutionize the battle against doping in equine sport.
Latest progress in developing this new testing approach will be presented at ASSET 2014, the food integrity and traceability conference, which is taking place at the Institute for Global Food Security on 8−10 April 2014.
quoted from here
‘We are developing an entirely new approach based on monitoring the physiological effects of banned drugs, rather than directly detecting the presence of those drugs,’ explains Mark Mooney at Queen’s University Belfast’s Institute for Global Food Security, which is one of the partners in the project. ‘By identifying the unique biochemical fingerprints that banned substances leave behind in an illicitly treated animal's blood or urine, we will be able to quickly identify horses or cattle that have been treated with an illegal drug.’
This new approach should allow large numbers of animals to be screened more quickly and efficiently than is currently possible. In addition, it should help regulators keep up with the introduction of new substances, as the biological effects of new substances will be similar to those of older substances. ‘Any animal in which the biological response of a banned substance is detected would then be singled-out for further tests to identify exactly which illicit substances are present,’ says Mooney.
This new testing approach is being developed under the DeTECH21 project, which runs for the next two years and is receiving funding worth €1.6 million, most of which is being provided by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research. The project is being led by the Irish Equine Centre in County Kildare, which hopes this new testing approach will revolutionize the battle against doping in equine sport.
Latest progress in developing this new testing approach will be presented at ASSET 2014, the food integrity and traceability conference, which is taking place at the Institute for Global Food Security on 8−10 April 2014.
quoted from here
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