Columbus, OH – In his Thoroughbred Daily News story, Dan Ross explores the failures of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act and the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit in implementing and conducting the uniformity in drug testing that they have promised.

Ross explains that the core problem is the lack of uniformity in the six HIWU approved labs.

“HIWU has “testing specifications” for more than 300 “core” analytes–most of them controlled medications but some banned substances–to which all HIWU-contracted laboratories are required to test,” wrote Ross.

“Outside of those 300 or so core analytes, therefore, testing variability from facility to facility means the six HIWU-contracted labs are screening for different numbers of substances, and have varying abilities to screen for the same substances, according to drug testing experts. In other words, the same sample sent to two different laboratories could result in two different sets of results.

“Furthermore, as HIWU–which was built by Drug Free Sports International–continues to work through a laborious “lab harmonization” process, what are the implications for the horsemen and women facing potentially life-changing sanctions for banned substance violations? And how can stakeholders be assured that newly established harmonized limits adequately factor in the risk of inadvertent contamination, especially those banned substances ubiquitously used by humans?”

To read the complete story on Thoroughbred Daily News, click here.