Drug Free Sport New Zealand (DFSNZ) has reported an anti-doping rule violation against the Respondent after his A and B samples tested positive for the prohibited substance Morphine. After the notification a provisional suspension was ordered. Respondent filed a statement in his defence and was heard for the Tribunal.
Respondent did not challenge the positive test result which had been confirmed by A and B sample tests. However, he claimed he was not at fault in testing positive to morphine as the morphine found in his system was due to poppy seeds contained in loaves of gluten free poppy seed bread he had been eating before, and on the day of, the competition.
The Tribunal heard and accepted expert scientific evidence that morphine may be produced from consumption of poppy seeds (which are not prohibited substances). Poppy seeds are a potential, if not certain, source of morphine. The concentration of morphine that may result from consumption of poppy seeds is subject to many variables. There was some evidence that the variables involved in the present case, including the source of poppy seeds and the bread production process, may in combination have inflated the morphine concentration.
Having heard and seen Respondent and the other witnesses, the Tribunal was satisfied that the source of his positive test was the consumption of the poppy seed bread. On the evidence there was no other credible explanation.
As the Tribunal concludes that there was no fault on the part of Respondent for the anti-doping violation, no penalty of suspension was imposed and the provisional suspension order lapsed.
However, as an anti-doping violation had been established, Respondent’s competition result on 8 January has to be disqualified. The Tribunal emphasised that, in its experience, this was a very unusual case.
