Cases like the cyclist Lance Armstrong, who bypassed hundreds of controls during his career , have repeatedly exposed the weaknesses of the fight against doping . But this may change very soon.
A group of researchers at the University of Texas at Arlington has just announced that they have developed a new technique to increase the effectiveness of tests between 10 and 1,000 times, depending on the substance you are looking for.
It is simply a matter of improving the currently most widely used technology , mass spectrometry, which consists of applying an electron beam to urine samples to transform the atoms into charged particles – ions – and then "weigh" them with a magnetic field.
Thus, experts can detect the chemical fingerprint of illegal compounds such as steroids, amphetamines or alcohol. What happens is that some of those traces are too small and leave very weak signals.
The new system perfects the analysis with a readily available chemical that "lights up" the metabolic products to be captured by the spectrometer.
Scientists say that their discovery will considerably increase the time in which banned substances can be located . Steroids, for example, would be visible for up to two years after being taken.
