By Xinhua
Abu Dhabi : The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will set up an anti-doping laboratory to test athletes for illegal performance-enhancing drugs, local newspaper Gulf News reported Wednesday.
The Gulf Anti-doping and Monitoring Enterprise (GAME) laboratory is to be established under a memorandum of understanding signed by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Social Development, the National Olympic Committee and Dubai Biotechnology and Research Park (DuBiotech).
The GAME laboratory will be located in DuBiotech, which will be built at a cost of 25-35 million dirhams (around $9.54 million). It will start testing blood and urine samples from October 2008, according to the report.
Abdul Rahman Al Owais, minister of culture, youth and community development was quoted as saying that “the new laboratory is crucial because it will not only serve athletes in the UAE but in other Gulf countries as well”.
“The only laboratory in the Arab world is in Tunisia, and the next closest is in Malaysia,” added the minister.
As a member of the World Anti-Doping Code, the UAE is expected to ratify a law in the next few months, which will implement an updated code with greater penalties.