WADA, USADA disagree with NFL assertions: say growth hormone test goodell to go.

Reports today in several media venues indicate controversy over the NFL's HGH stance.  Both NFL commissioner Roger Goddell and NFLPA head Gene Upshaw caution against use of the HGH test developed by WADA-affiliated labs.  However, as reported by Velo News, ASADA counsel Travis Tygart disputes that doubt.

Goodell, speaking during the NFL's "state of the league" address on Friday suggested that American professional football leads other sports in drug testing, but said he doubted the league would be able to test for HGH because "there is no reliable test right now."...

Goodell's claim, however, was disputed by Travis Tygart, chief counsel at the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, who said that anti-doping agencies world-wide are poised to begin using a blood-based method to test for precisely that hormone.

"The commitment was there to develop a test," Tygart told VeloNews. "The [International Olympic Committee] and WADA put a substantial amount of money into the effort. It has been peer-reviewed, there have been several papers on that very subject and there is now a reliable test for HGH out there."

"For someone to say that there is not an effective test that could be used within the near future is simply inaccurate," he added.

Gary Wadler, physician and anti-doping activist, also disputes the NFL claims.

"The fact of the matter is that there is a test. There are several tests," Gary Wadler, a physician and member of WADA's prohibited lists and methods committee, told USA Today on Friday.

Wadler suggested that for the NFL to ignore available testing methods essentially gives its players a "free ride for what is not an insignificant drug."

Growth hormone is likely a large covert problem for the NFL.  Despite skimpy scientific evidence for effectiveness, suspicions continue that the drug is widely misused for gains in muscle bulk.  HGH produces significant cardiac effects, which should be cause for great concern among  users.