Scientists in Belfast have come up with a new test to detect steroid abuse in cattle.

As the EU tightens its regulations, those responsible for doping cattle are coming up with new ways to hide their practices, so it is vital for scientists to develop new tests to catch those who flout the law, the Queen’s University researchers said.

The team said the new tests are cheaper, more accurate and more convenient for tracing the illegal drugs than conventional doping tests.

The study was led by Professor Chris Elliot, the Director of the Institute of Agri-Food and Land Use at Queen’s, and is published today in the scientific journal Analytical Chemistry.

Professor Elliott and his team believe that despite a long-standing ban by the European Union on the use of growth-promoting agents in cattle, widespread abuse of steroids is still continuing and remains difficult to detect.

“Scientists working in this field suspect that up to 10 per cent of European cattle are illegally treated with growth-enhancing chemicals, including anabolic steroids.” he said.

“Fears about their safety have been raised through scientific studies which have shown a potential link between some steroids used in growth promotion and cancer.

“As the European Union continues to tighten its regulations, those carrying out the doping have found ways of hiding their practices from regulators.

“Therefore, it is important to find methods to catch those who flout the laws.

“The new testing method measures steroids indirectly based on chemical changes associated with growth and muscle development in steroid-fed cattle.”

Using a commercial blood analyser commonly found in hospitals, the researchers measured 20 different chemical markers, including proteins and cholesterol, in cattle treated with and without the commonly used steroids testosterone and oestrogen over a 42-day study period.

The new test detected the presence of the steroids with a high accuracy rate of between 91 and 96 per cent.

The research was funded by the European Commission and safefood organisation in Ireland.