Towards more fair and effective doping tests based on chromatography with mass spectrometric detection

Van Eenoo and Delbeke in Accred Qual Assur ( 2009 ) have criticized Faber (in Accred Qual Assur, 2009 ) for not taking “all factors under consideration when making his claims”. Here, it is detailed that their criticism is based on a misunderstanding of examples that were merely intended to be illustrative. Motivated by this criticism, further discussion is provided that may help in the pursuit of more fair and effective doping tests, here exemplified by chromatography with mass spectrometric detection. Surely, any doping test can only be improved or even optimized if the risks of false positives and false negatives are well defined. This requirement is consistent with a basic principle concerning mathematical approximations (Parlett in “The symmetric eigenvalue problem”, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1980 ): apart from just being good, they should be known to be good.