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The chairman of doping control at FINA (The International Swimming Federation) Dr. Andrew Pipe warned athletes currently competing at the 15th FINA World Championships here of the dangers of taking food supplements.

A recent spate of positive anti-doping tests in athletics, which as seen by athletes such as Tyson Gay and former 100 meters world record holder Asafa Powell test positive for banned substances, focus has turned to the supplements many sportspeople take as the cause of their problems.

Speaking at a FINA press conference on Saturday, 24 hours before racing begins in the pool at the Palau St Jordi, Dr. Pike confirmed that on Friday he had told a meeting of team leaders of the risk posed by supplements.

"The vast majority of supplements are produced in the USA and there is no regulation controlling these products at all," he said.

"Athletes have the ultimate responsibility for what they put in their bodies and that means you have to have responsibility to know what you are taking. But the nature of the supplement industry is that you cannot know what is in the product. Sometimes the producers themselves are not even fully aware of what is in their products," said Dr. Pipe, who was skeptical that it was worth sportspeople taking such a risk.

"There is only limited evidence that they can actually help to athletes," he explained.

The Doctor also spoke about the anti-doping procedure which is being used in Barcelona over the two weeks of the World Championships.

"It is the largest and most comprehensive series of tests that have been carried out in FINA's history and they are being carried out in a year when we have also introduced the biological passport, (in order to find irregularities in questions such as the red blood cell count) and here we are going to carry out 100's of blood tests to enhance that program," he commented.

Meanwhile there will also be a series of tests for swimmers in races in which those to be tested will be chosen at random with the names of those to be tested not known until their race has actually begun.

"These tests will be of both urine and blood and will be analyzed at a laboratory here in Barcelona and we want to ensure effectiveness and efficiency."

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