Testing EPO...

As the world turns over on whether or not Lance Armstrong did EPO during the 1999 Tour De France, I thought that this article interviewing the head of Canada's testing lab interesting.

Basically, she states that "EPO - in its natural state or the synthesized version - is not stable in urine, even if stored at minus 20 degrees." and that her lab -- which assists in developing the world standard for these tests -- can't test for EPO in a sample after two to three months because the proteins degrade quickly.

So, while I remain convinced that cyclists use performancing enhancing drugs just like every other professional athelete in the world, I find this kinda ridiculous.

yea, but whose to say they didn't store the samples at -80. thats where we keep all our proteins until we run them.

i am not saying that i agree with the results or what not, but assuming proper storage proteins can last a long while.

In urine? Does it matter?

haven't worked with urine so i am just assuming, but I don't see a problem with the urine affecting the proteins to that much of a degree or its freezability. If anything it might affect the urgency of use after thaw, but that wouldn't be too much of an issue

urine is mainly a salt solution. Crackboy is right, at -80F, even proteins present in only trace amounts, such as synthetic protein drugs, should have a long life in storage.

OTOH, there might be something about EPO that makes it inherently unstable in urine, I realy don't know enough to make definate statements on that issue........