Brussels, Belgium, 21 November 2018
35 high-level delegates from anti-doping organisations including universities, national anti-doping organisations, policy developers, and NGOs were invited by EuropeActive in the framework of the EU funded project FAIR to the 2nd FORUM for anti-doping in recreational sport which took place in Brussels today.
Opening the FORUM Yves Le Lostecque, Head of the EU Commission Sport Unit, reminded everyone that doping in amateur sport will remain a priority in the European sport agenda for the foreseeable future and that much has to be done to reduce doping practices. He also stressed how EuropeActive has become one of the most active actors in the fight against doping in recreational sport ,and how the FORUM represents a unique networking event in Brussels where stakeholders and experts can gather together to discuss how interventions can be developed.
During the first part of the FORUM, 3 researchers who had studied into the “effective interventions to fight doping” were presented and evaluated. A significant contribution has been made by the research team from Swansea University headed by Prof. Mike Mcnamee who had conducted a survey addressing the European NADOs as an update to Study on Doping Prevention which was published in 2015. The research had looked at existing good practices and had included interviewing different stakeholders across Europe on their existing practices. The current position was summarised by Prof. Fabio Lucidi who outlined the areas for further work and discussion.
In the afternoon the FORUM opened with a very interactive session in which all delegates had the opportunity to express their opinions on the best ways forward to help reduce the prevalence of doping in recreational sport. The final part of the FORUM focused on the other priority of the FAIR project which covers “food and supplements intended for sportspeople”. Prof. Susan Backhouse presented the first results on the research and interviews conducted to look at reducing the risk of inadvertent doping in this area. Irène Margaritis - Head of Nutrition Risk Assessment Unit at ANSES – gave a summary of the progress of the CEN/TC 453 Nutritional Supplements Technical Committee progress on developing European standards for testing and labelling.
A set of summary notes and other references can be found on the FAIR project website.
List of interventions:
- Welcome and Introduction from EU Commission, Yves Le Lostecque - Head of the Sport Unit
- Moderator of the FORUM - Prof. Mike McNamee – Professor at Swansea University
- FAIR Project Overview, Cliff Collins – EuropeActive Director of Programmes
- Introduction to the FORUM main theme, Prof. Ask Vest Christiansen – University of Aarhus
- Literature Review, Luke Cox – Swansea University
- The EU NADO’s Survey, Evie Ham and Prof. Andrew Bloodworth – Swansea University
- Review of educational programmes – Katharina Gatterer – UMIT University
- An assessment of what has been found and future directions - Prof. Fabio Lucidi – La Sapienza University of Rome
- Preliminary findings and outcomes on actions to improve testing and labelling for food and supplements intended for sportspeople, Prof. Susan Backhouse – Leeds Beckett University
- The development of European Standards. CEN/TC 453: Nutritional Supplements compatible with doping prevention, Irène Margaritis - Head of Nutrition Risk Assessment Unit at ANSES
For further information, please visit http://www.europeactive-euaffairs.eu/projects/FAIR
or contact;
Francesco Capuani,
francesco.capuani@europeactive.eu