WADA provisionally suspends Paris lab's accreditation

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has provisionally suspended the WADA accreditation of the National Anti-Doping Organization of France in Chatenay-Malabry, suburb of Paris, due to "analytical issues" self-reported by the Laboratory.

"The provisional suspension, which took effect on 24 September 2017, prohibits the Paris Laboratory from carrying out any anti-doping activities, including all analyses of urine and blood samples," read a WADA statement on Tuesday, while not specifying details concerning the laboratory, reports Xinhua news agency.

According to media reports, the issues originated from sample contamination. One positive sample from a bodybuilder contaminated two other samples with steroid, proving that the cleaning on testing machine was not sufficient to prevent the contamination.

"The provisional suspension will remain in place pending disciplinary proceedings being carried out by an independent committee," said WADA.

"During the period of the provisional suspension, samples that have not yet been analyzed by the Paris Laboratory; samples currently undergoing a confirmation procedure; and, any samples for which an Adverse Analytical Finding has been reported; must be securely transported to another WADA-accredited laboratory," it added.

The Paris laboratory was previously acknowledged for its contribution to anti-doping. About 13,500 samples were tested in the Laboratory last year.

It was set to undertake the testing mission after Paris was awarded the hosting right of the 2024 Olympic Games.

--IANS

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