A key test used to detect testosterone fails to take into account vital ethnic variations. It appears that sportspeople from certain ethnic groups are less likely to be caught if they take steroids. The results of these tests might be influenced by a genetic factor linker to race.

The tests were introduced by the World Anti-Drug Agency in 2004. According to the study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the tests are not fit for their purpose.

The hormone testosterone may be used as a steroid in synthetic form to enhance performance among athletes.
Scientists at Lausanne's anti-doping laboratory analyzed the testosterone levels of 171 football players in six different countries after steroids were deliberately added to their urine samples.

They found significant differences when they compared the chemical analysis of the steroid profiles of 57 Africans, 32 Asians, 50 Caucasians and 32 Hispanics. The researchers found that the Asians, 81 per cent of whom had the gene variation that made them excrete testosterone slowly, usually fell below the T/E threshold of 4.

“It means that some athletes can use testosterone without raising the T/E ratio above 4,” the researchers concluded.
The solution would be to introduce a system of “passports”, which would use each athlete's individual metabolic profile in order to monitor, test and target any variations in the athlete’s biological profile. It this way the detection strategy would not be affected by genetic variations.