Sorry, International Olympic Committee, Your EPO Test Doesn't Work

The International Olympic Committee is adamant that its drug tests are necessary to maintain the integrity of its competitions. But what if those tests don't work?

Gina Kolata of the New York Times has a report that demonstrates that with at least one performance-enhancing drug -- EPO -- the tests don't work.

Kolata writes about some investigators who conducted a study of men who took EPO and whether drug testers could detect it in their urine:

The investigators gave eight young men EPO and collected urine samples on multiple occasions before, during and after the men were doping. The men's urine samples were then sent to two labs accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency, and EPO tests were requested.
The first lab found some samples positive and a few others suspicious....

The second lab did not deem any urine sample positive for EPO and found only a few to be suspicious. The two labs did not agree on which samples were suspicious.

... none of the subjects would have been charged with using EPO, even though their red blood cell counts rose and their performances on an endurance test improved.

The EPO test is so unreliable as to be useless. That doesn't stop the IOC from using it, though.