More than half the players given doping tests at last summer’s U-17 World Cup in Mexico had traces of the banned drug clenbuterol found in their urine samples.
Positive tests forclenbuterol in five players from the senior Mexico squad had alerted FIFA to a possible issue, and when four more positive tests emerged from the youth tournament the governing body decided toreanalyse all the 208 urine samples taken. (The five players were banned from the 2011 Gold Cup, which Mexico still managed to win, but were later exonerated because the clenbuterol in their systemwas judged to have come from eating contaminated beef.)
Of the 24 U-17 squads involved, 19 had several players showing the presence of clenbuterol. A laboratory in Cologne discovered thepresence of the steroid in 109 of the 208 samples — 52.4 percent — but most in concentrations lower than the banned level so they had not been reported. Clenbuterol is banned in farming in mostcountries but is used to speed up growth and increase muscle mass in cattle.
The Mexican government has made a number of arrests and closed down several slaughterhouses in recent weeksafter being alerted to the issue, according to Mikel Arriola, an official from Mexico’s health ministry. Mexico’s victorious under-17 team did not have a single adverse finding; afterthe positive tests for the senior players they were only allowed to eat fish and vegetables.