Doping-Report warns of complacency in UK's anti-doping

LONDON, Feb 22 (Reuters) - The government and UK Sport must do more to make sure doping does not turn London's 2012 Olympics into a national embarrassment, said a report today.

The document, titled Human Enhancement Technologies in Sport, accused the government and UK Sport, the body responsible for anti-doping, of ''complacency'' in putting into place the kind of systems required to tackle drug cheats.

It produced a wide range of recommendations, including four-year bans for drug cheats and a beefing up of Britain's testing procedures plus the establishment of an independent agency to investigate and prosecute doping offenders.

The report supported the idea of blood profiling passports to aid research into the use of illegal Human Enhancement Technologies (HETs). It also called for a requirement for UK athletes to compete internationally for the 12 months prior to the 2012 Games, barring those that are injured.

''Sport matters to people and any scandal associated with British sportsmen or women resonates way beyond the immediate sporting world,'' said Phil Willis, chairman of the cross-party Science and Technology Committee who produced the report.

''The 2012 Olympics have given us the perfect opportunity to showcase the best of British sporting talent.

''We must not risk turning an occasion for national pride into one of embarrassment and disgrace.'' PRO-ACTIVE The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said last year that about 25 percent more doping tests will be carried out at the Beijing Games in 2008 than at Athens in 2004, bringing the total to about 4,500.

The report quoted a target of 5,000, about half the number of athletes, at the London Games but said the government and UK Sport must be more pro-active to prepare for such an operation.

''It is a standard procedure during the Olympics that staff from WADA-accredited laboratories from across the world congregate in the host country to assist in the testing process,'' it said referring to the World Anti-Doping Agency.

''This is reassuring but we are less satisfied with (UK Sport's) admission that this is ''part of the pre-Games planning that we are only now beginning to get our heads around''.

UK Sport responded on Thursday, saying it welcomed any debate on anti-doping, although it stressed that testing at the Games was not solely the responsibility of the host country.

''We refute any suggestions that we are complacent about 2012 but what the report fails to understand is that the IOC will continue to be responsible for testing policy at the Games,'' a spokesman said.

UK Sport also distanced itself from the report's call for blanket four-year bans for positive tests.

''We are in favour of there being an option for a four-year ban, but only in certain circumstances,'' the spokesman said.

''There has to be a distinction between a pre-meditated drug cheat and somebody who has made an innocent mistake.'' EXTRA FUNDING With respect to London 2012, the report also questioned where the extra funding needed to run the Games' anti-doping programme would come from in the light of comments by Minister for Sport Richard Caborn.

He was quoted as saying that the London Organising Committee (LOCOG), not the government, was responsible.

''We believe that an accurate view of funding requirements must be obtained and that adequate funding for the running of a successful testing programme must be made available,'' it said.

UK Sport said it would be working closely with the DCMS to consider the wide-ranging points raised in the report. However John Scott, director of drug-free sport at UK Sport, said calls for an independent anti-doping agency were unfounded.

''We have confidence in the current set-up and feel the close links we have to high performance sport benefit us in running an effective anti-doping programme,'' Scott said.

REUTERS SAM BD2211