NEW YORK — A scientist who has worked to develop a urine test for human growth hormone said the blood test baseball plans to use for minor leaguers can only detect the substance for 6 to 12 hours.
Don Catlin said yesterday the test, announced a day earlier by baseball commissioner Bud Selig, is of limited use. In February, a British rugby league player became the first athlete suspended following a positive HGH test.
“The fact that it’s been around for a few thousand tests and only one positive suggests that either there’s much less growth hormone being used than we thought, which is doubtful, or the period of detectability is really pretty short — a few hours. It’s probably the latter,’’ said Catlin, adding detection probably would work only with “middle-of-the-night testing.’’
