No HGH testing before NFL season opens

NFL executive vice president Jeff Pash addresses the media. Despite... — NFL executive vice president Jeff Pash addresses the media. Despite an NFL owners-imposed lockout, the league is conducting its annual owners meeting in New Orleans. (Mar. 21, 2011) Credit: Getty Images

By BOB GLAUBER. NFL teams were told Friday that the league will not begin testing players for human growth hormone by the beginning of the regular season, which begins Thursday, when the Saints play the defending Super Bowl champion Packers.. NFL outside counsel Jeffrey Pash informed the league's management council executive committee, which includes Giants president and co-owner John Mara, that the NFL Players Association's continued resistance to implementing HGH testing caused the league to scrap plans for testing.. "Although the CBA reflects a commitment to implement [HGH] testing by the start of the 2011 regular season, it is apparent that we will be unable to do so because of the [NFLPA's] continued refusal to accept the validity of the tests developed by the World Anti-Doping Agency that are used in Olympic sports and minor-league baseball," Pash told the committee in a letter obtained by Newsday.. Pash included in his correspondence an Aug. 30 letter sent by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith urging him to agree to the testing procedures. Smith has not responded to the letter, according to a person familiar with the situation.. An NFLPA spokesman did not return messages seeking comment on the HGH testing program.bob.glauber@newsday.com.,,,,,,,,,September 2, 2011