NEW YORK– Major League Baseball has started random blood testing for human growth hormone in the minor leagues, the first professional sports league in the United States to take the aggressive step against doping.
Commissioner Bud Selig said Thursday that blood testing will immediately become part of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, which has been in place since 2001.
The blood testing is limited to minor league players because they are not members of the players' association, which means the testing is not subject to collective bargaining.
Selig called the decision "a significant step in the detection of the illegal use of human growth hormone" and an "example for all of our drug policies in the future."