RMTC Suspends Accreditation of University of Illinois Laboratory

The Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC) has issued a 60-day accreditation suspension of the University of Illinois Chicago Analytical Forensic Toxicology Laboratory (UIC-AFTL), one of five laboratories contracted by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unity (HIWU) to conduct drug testing for the agency.

According to RMTC executive director, Michael Hardy, the agency notified UIC's Analytical Forensic Toxicology Laboratory of its suspension Tuesday.

“The Horserace Testing Laboratory Committee (HTLC), which is tasked with overseeing RMTC's Laboratory Accreditation Program, will, upon receipt, review the laboratory's response and associated corrective actions. Accreditation will not be restored until the laboratory is in full compliance with the Code,” wrote Hardy in an email.

According to federal rules, HIWU is precluded from using a laboratory that does not have RMTC accreditation. In response to the suspension, HIWU released the following statement Tuesday afternoon: [The Analytical Forensic Testing Laboratory at the University of Illinois Chicago] laboratory is responsible for analyzing all samples collected in Illinois, which constitute approximately 3% of all samples collected to date under the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program. The ADMC Program rules require that RMTC-accredited laboratories are used prior to the implementation of HISA Equine Analytical Laboratory (HEAL) accreditation standards, which will take effect in 2025. With the RMTC's decision to suspend accreditation for the UIC Lab, HIWU is immediately diverting samples collected in Illinois to other Program laboratories. HISA and HIWU remain in communication with the RMTC and Illinois Racing Board for this ongoing matter and have no further comment at this time.”

This is the second time this year the RMTC has suspended accreditation of a drug-testing facility used by HIWU. Earlier this year, it suspended accreditation of the University of Kentucky's Equine Analytical Chemistry Laboratory. That suspension has yet to be lifted.

Hardy said he was unable to expand upon the specific reasons behind the accreditation suspension at the UIC Laboratory, but wrote that “nonconformities” were associated with the RMTC's laboratory code of standards, section 2.4.9.2.

That document outlines 10 possible considerations that may prompt the RMTC to suspend its accreditation of a laboratory:

– Accreditation suspensions by international lab oversight bodies.

– Failure to take appropriate corrective action after unsatisfactory performance either in routine Analytical Testing or in proficiency testing.

– Failure to comply with any of the requirements or standards listed in an international laboratory accreditation cooperation document.

– Failure to cooperate with the RMTC or the relevant State Horse Racing Authority in providing requested documentation.

– Lack of compliance with the RMTC Laboratory Code of Ethics.

– Major changes in key staff without proper and timely notification to RMTC.

– Failure to cooperate in any RMTC enquiry in relation to the activities of the Laboratory.

– Non-compliances identified from laboratory on-site assessments.

– Loss of financial and administrative support jeopardizing the quality and/or viability of the Laboratory.

– Material breach of contractual obligation to a State Horse Racing Authority.

The RMTC can suspend accreditation for a period of up to six months, according to the code of standards.

The UIC Laboratory's accreditation suspension marks just the latest in a series of operational and management issues at drug testing facilities used by HIWU, many of them associated with the complex problem of bringing several laboratories–all vastly different–under the one uniform regulatory umbrella.

The agency has granted a temporary stay of enforcement to connections in six pending total carbon dioxide (TCO2) cases, all of which are out of Pennsylvania, in order to conduct a review of TCO2 analysis at the Pennsylvania Equine Toxicology and Research Laboratory (PETRL).

In total, 11 of the 14 pending and resolved TCO2-related cases reported since the advent of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) have concerned horses that ran in Pennsylvania.

High total carbon dioxide (TCO2) levels could be an indication of bicarbonate loading–otherwise known as “milk-shaking”–which can neutralize the build-up of lactic acid in muscles, thereby helping the horse's performance. TCO2 is also naturally occurring in a horse's system.

At the end of last year, the TDN reported reported on testing uniformity difficulties arising from different testing equipment, testing methodologies and sets of staff interpreting the results between the then six laboratories contracted for use by HIWU.

Internal reviews of the laboratories had uncovered different limits of detection in blood for the diabetes drug Metformin and for benzoylecgonine (BZE), a metabolite of cocaine.

In light of the review, HIWU explained that it had subsequently harmonized its “testing sensitivity” in blood across the six labs for these two substances, and that it would repeat the harmonization process for other drugs, including banned substances.

Earlier this year, HIWU severed its contract with the UK Laboratory due to questions raised about the lab's performance, and about “personnel” matters related to the former lab director, Scott Stanley. The RMTC subsequently suspended its accreditation of the UK Lab.

The RMTC originally issued a 60-day accreditation suspension period to the UK Lab, but extended that another six months on May 22 this year.

While investigations into these matters at the UK Lab are still ongoing, Hardy wrote that the RMTC acknowledges the “good faith efforts and level of cooperation from the University of Kentucky's Equine Analytical Chemistry Laboratory” as it seeks “to achieve full compliance with the Code of Standards.”

Lab accreditation is only one prong of the RMTC, which is also involved in the research, education and advocacy of horse racing's anti-doping and medication control programs.