UNESCO to debate doping crisis in sports on June 26

New Delhi, June 21 (UNI) Reacting to the doping crisis in the world of sports, UNESCO will debate the menace in a conference at its Paris headquarters on June 26.

To be opened by UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura, ''The conference will bring together leading experts in this field,'' a release said here today.

Participants in the debate include President of the International Cycling Union Pat McQuaid, President of the International Fair-Play Committee Jeno Kamuti, Mark Fainaru-Wada --a noted journalist specialising in the issue --, Director of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Rune Andersen and Editor-in-Chief of L'Equipe, France's leading sports media group, Claude Droussent.

The conference, which takes place ahead of the Tour de France cycling race, is organised within the framework of UNESCO's International Convention Against Doping Sport, the only legal instrument that is both universal and binding.

The Convention, adopted by UNESCO's General Conference in October 2005, will enter into force one month after its 30th ratification.

So far, it has been ratified by 13 Member States, the release said.

Doping poses a serious threat for the health of athletes and according to WADA statistics, 2.13 per cent of tests by accredited laboratories in 2005, showed adverse analytical findings.

Similarly, the States Parties to the Council of Europe Anti-Doping Convention in 2004 reported a total of 802 confirmed violations of anti-doping rules -- 717 in-competition and 85 out of competition -- and the Athens Olympic Games were marked by an unprecedented number of cases of doping.

The problem also concerns amateurs. According to a 2003 National Youth Risk Behaviour Survey, 6.1 per cent of young people in grades 9-12 throughout the United States took steroids without a doctor's prescription one or more times during their lifetime.

''The Conference will debate the issue of doping both in terms of the present scandals and of the struggle against this problem.

Participants will discuss some of the major recently publicised cases and examine the ethical and medicals aspects of doping, as well as UNESCO's International Convention Against Doping in Sport and WADA's anti-doping programme,'' the release added.

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