NFL wants players tested for HGH

In the wake Tuesday's report of a ban of a British rugby league player over a positive test for human growth hormone (HGH), the NFL has renewed a bid to have players receive blood tests for HGH.

The league this year has made two proposals to the NFL Players Association, most recently this week. The Washington Post reported that the league would like to see HGH testing for players in light of a ban of rugby player Terry Newton, who became the first athlete to be suspended after testing positive for HGH. He was banned for two years by the United Kingdom Anti-Doping authority.

The NFL union, however, remains opposed to blood testing for HGH, a stance long held by the union going back to when the late Gene Upshaw was the group's executive director.

"We're willing to have any test that's accurate," NFLPA spokesman George Atallah said today. "Bottom line is blood tests are still unreliable."

HGH is banned in the major North American sports leagues, including the NFL and Major League Baseball. Baseball owners want to have blood testing for HGH, and plans to use such testing in the minor leagues later this season, according to the New York Times.

The NFL believes testing procedures are now advanced enough to begin implementation.

"Our position is that HGH testing has advanced to the point where we are taking steps to incorporate it into our program," league spokesman Greg Aiello said in an e-mail today.

The two sides have strengthened steroids-program testing over the years, including the ban of steroids in 1989. The league currently tests players randomly for steroids.