French anti-doping lab's suspension set for up to six months

The World Anti-Doping Agency announced Friday that the French national anti-doping laboratory's suspension could last up to six months.

"The suspension was imposed due to analytical issues self-reported to WADA by the Laboratory," WADA said in a statement.

The Montreal-based WADA first announced the suspension of the National Anti-Doping Organization of France, based in the Paris suburb of Chatenay-Malabry, on September 24 for a provisional period of time.

"Since 24 September, disciplinary proceedings were carried out by an independent Disciplinary Committee.... which is now complete," WADA said.

The suspension was linked to contamination of a sampling robot after tests carried out on samples from bodybuilders showed levels of testosterone up to 200 times the normal positive test.

France's only anti-doping laboratory, it handled around 13,500 samples in 2016.

The suspension, which took effect on Tuesday, "prohibits the Paris laboratory from carrying out any anti-doping activities, including all analyses of urine and blood samples," WADA said.

Source: AFP