Roger Goodell gives Congress HGH testing plan

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has written a letter to two members of Congress outlining the league's plan to begin collecting blood specimens as soon as Monday in order to begin testing all players for HGH.

The letter, obtained by Newsday, was sent Wednesday to Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), ranking member of the committee, and reiterated a six-point plan that Goodell said both sides had agreed to last Friday. Issa and Cummings have called for testing players for HGH and met with the two sides last Friday.

"Professional football must be free of performance enhancing drugs and our testing regimen must be implemented fairly and be based on the best available science," Goodell wrote.

The NFLPA said in a statement Wednesday that it would advise players to refuse to give blood samples because of concerns about the reliability of the testing procedures, so it is uncertain just when the testing might begin. Union spokesman George Atallah was unavailable for comment.

The NFL and NFLPA included HGH testing in the collective bargaining agreement, but the sides have been unable to reach agreement on implementation.

Goodell said in the letter that the league would begin collecting blood samples as soon as Monday, but that testing wouldn't begin until details of the program could be worked out with players.

"Specimens will not be analyzed and players will not be subject to disciplinary proceedings until the remaining issues surrounding the testing are resolved," Goodell wrote. "Until that time, collected blood samples will be stored . . . The NFL will work with the players to develop appeal procedures, including the scope of review on appeal of scientific issues."

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Goodell said that the United States Anti-Doping Agency would meet with the players' side within two weeks to review concerns about the testing procedure. He also proposed that a mutually agreed upon third party would meet with the USADA and the World Anti-Doping Agency to review the science underlying HGH tests.

Goodell said the Committee on Oversight and Reform would meet within 30 days to review the program, but only if the collection procedures had begun. If the players did not allow specimens to be collected, Goodell suggested a meeting with the Committee within two weeks.