John Fahey, President of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), has sent a warning to athletes around the world that illegal substances offered to them by guardians who claim there is no risk could damage their health irretrievably.

Highlighting the need to extend education programmes in the fight against doping, Fahey told the WADA Media Symposium in Lausanne: 'The health effects cannot be understated. Athletes are often used as guinea pigs both for new types of drug and for levels of use well beyond those approved for genuine therapeutic use. Recent research emanating from Germany suggests that in the long-term, it is not only the athletes who suffer, but so do their children.'

The incidence of poor health and serious illness, as well as miscarriages and defects in children born to women given steroids as teenagers in the German Democratic Republic is disturbing to say the least.

As more sophisticated and yet more dangerous drugs make it to the sports world, Fahey said: 'Sport is extremely important to all communities. We want to ensure that everyone who competes in sport does so in the knowledge that they are involved in fair competition. The essence of sport is fair play, and we need to keep that at the centre of our work.'

Among current and future dangers are genetic therapies designed for those who need genuine medical treatment but may be denied access to drugs on the basis of cost while healthy athletes can get access to substances at a high price in the hope of enhancing performance through cheating.

Fahey admitted that the challenge facing the doping authorities was tough, with new prohibited methods and substances coming to the fore. 'Drugs are becoming more sophisticated as time goes on. All we can do is continue to be smarter - the battle will go on, but we're not just limited to testing. We will also lead an increased focus on education to change the culture and attitudes towards doping.'

WADA's Director General, David Howman added: 'In progressing our work, we have to think like the cheats to be able to detect them and stop them.'

Bravo. Know a cheat to catch one is just what the doctor ordered. Such an approach, such intelligence caught the likes of the Chinese (more than 40 positive steroid tests) and Michelle Smith de Bruin (manipulation) out in the 1990s. Targeted testing is also more meaningful and more likely to have an effect that the blanket approach of late that has allowed Olympic bosses and others to boast 'five billion tests and not a single positive', while Marion Jones gets past every test and must confess before she's caught.

WADA is working on the introduction of an Athlete Passport system, currently being trialled in road cycling. Hopefully it will involve blood testing wherever that is deemed helpful.