Dr. Clive Pearce:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to explain a little more about how LGC has helped the IHRB. We have been in this support role since 2018 and we work according to operational documents, which are reviewed and updated on a quarterly basis. We also have business meetings with the IHRB.

LGC is a world-leading racing chemistry lab and has extensive animal sports testing and research and development programmes that have been developed over many years. We are well known for our pioneering research and continued investment in detecting the use of banned substances such as anabolic steroids, which have been a specialism of ours for many years, and erythropoietins, or EPOs, which have large biological molecules and now feature strongly. As Dr. Hillyer mentioned, we have introduced many novel testing methods, including hair testing.

I will pick up on some of the points made regarding hair testing. It is a useful matrix for performing an analysis because it provides a long window of detection. Typically, blood provides a window of days or sometimes a week. With urine, the period is generally a little longer. Urine has an advantage, in that drugs and so on tend to concentrate in urine, meaning that there is more to be seen in urine. Hair provides a long window of opportunity to detect. The concentrations of drugs found in hair are generally very low because it relies on the drugs circulating in the animal's system and then being incurred in the hair. There is a large advantage in terms of the window of detection, but the concentrations are small. It has only been in recent years after the analytical technology advanced to the point where we could detect such very low concentrations that hair testing has become a useful addition to urine and blood testing. As Dr. Hillyer mentioned, though, since the concentrations in urine and blood are generally higher and they are much more convenient matrices for testing, it will be some time before hair testing comes alongside urine and blood testing completely. Urine and blood testing will always be the main matrices for the foreseeable future, supported by hair.

I wish to emphasise the large amount of international collaboration that goes on around research and development programmes. LGC is part of the Association of Official Racing Chemists and the European Horserace Scientific Liaison Committee. We also have representation on the advisory council of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities, IFHA, and in the US, the scientific advisory committee of the Racing and Medication Testing Consortium, RMTC. The laboratory is well placed in terms of its interaction and collaboration with racing interests around the world.

I will pick up on a couple of the questions that were raised. The matter of zilpaterol was raised in terms of LGC's detection capability versus LCH's. LGC and LCH are two of the five IFHA reference laboratories and we are seen as being at the vanguard of racing laboratories. We are top of the tree, as it were. However, it has to be remembered that what both laboratories are detecting is close to 3,000 different substances. A large array of chemical molecules are being detected as the drugs themselves and after they have metabolised. Many of those chemicals are medications or known and naturally occurring contaminants. Associated with these are reporting and screening limits or international thresholds. There is a number of the 3,000 where there are definite concentrations that all laboratories-----