"We know that mere collection of urine and blood samples is not going to end the fight against doping in sport," WADA director general David Howman said in London today.

 

WADA and UK Sport organised the two-day meeting in London to find anti-doping methods beyond sample collection and analysis.

 

They said targeting large-scale manufacturers and distributors requires cooperation by Government and law-enforcement agencies, who were represented at the symposium.

 

Howman praised Operation Gear Grinder, in which the United States Drug Enforcement Administration in 2005 shut down eight companies illegally producing anabolic steroids in Mexico. The DEA has since been working with WADA and the US Anti-Doping Agency, Howman said.

 

The symposium also discussed the ongoing Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative investigation in the United States and Operation Puerto in Spain, which involved authorities going after suppliers of steroids and growth hormones.

 

"What we are very keen to do is learn from others, and the practical experience that we saw from the DEA was an absolute revelation," said John Scott, director of drug-free sport for UK Sport, the national anti-doping organisation for Britain.

 

In Operation Gear Grinder, the DEA used the Internet to track the illegal businesses and their sales, and the Internet most likely will play a large role in any new initiative, WADA said.

 

"It is regrettable that sport has to take the lead in these things...but sometimes sport is what makes society shift," Howman said.

 

A WADA group will be formed to set guidelines for executing the plans.

 

"I think that what came out of the seminar is that the vast majority of countries are very much at the beginning of this," Scott said.