SmithKline Beecham's Atlanta Lab Gears Up For Olympic Drug Testing

Abstract

When toxicologist Barry Sample oversaw drug testing at the Pan-American Games in Indianapolis in 1987, he averaged four or five hours of sleep per night. This year, he's in charge of the drug testing labs for the Olympic Games in Atlanta and can't count on even that much rest once the competition begins July 19. Sample is director of the forensic toxicology lab at SmithKline Beecham Clinical Laboratories (SBCL) in Tucker, Ga., which has been chosen by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to carry out drug testing for this summer's games. Each day, urine samples from every medal winner and other athletes chosen at random will be brought to the suburban Atlanta lab to undergo analysis for a wide range of substances banned by IOC. The testing lab must turn the samples around in less than 48 hours. All the samples will be tested for stimulants, narcotics, anabolic substances, masking agents, Sample says. We'll be ...