Report: Players union will not allow HGH testing
Despite the recent media attention over human growth hormone, don't expect the NBA to start testing for it any time soon.
NBA players union executive director Billy Hunter told Bloomberg News that he would not agree to blood tests that would show the use of HGH.
"My guys are tested enough," Hunter told Bloomberg News. "All these problems seem to be initiated from what's happening in baseball."
Last week, Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Jason Grimsley told federal investigators he used illegal performance-enhancing drugs. Thirteen agents searched Grimsley's house in Scottsdale, Ariz., for six hours, searching for "any and all records showing contact or relationship with any and all amateur or professional athletes, athletic coaches or athletic trainers" regarding illicit drug use and purchases.
HGH is banned by the NBA, but there is no reliable urine test to detect its presence. A blood test is the only way to detect it.
"We don't participate in a sport where there's a need for growth hormone," Hunter said to Bloomberg News. He also called blood tests "highly offensive, violent and too much like Big Brother."
The NFL players association also has said it would not support blood tests for HGH. NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw told The Washington Post over the weekend that he and other league leaders doubt the reliability of blood testing first used at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2480231