Changes to WADA's list top agenda of Paris conference

PARIS, Feb 4 (Reuters) Changes to the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) list of prohibited substances will top the agenda at a conference of states which have signed up to the international convention against doping in sport.

Participants will also focus on the creation of a fund for the elimination of doping in sport and the establishment of a follow-up mechanism for the convention.

The conference, from Monday to Wednesday at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris, will be attended by the UN organisation's director general Koichiro Matsuura, WADA director general David Howman and WADA's vice-chairman Jean-Francois Lamour.

WADA said it expected governments to intensify their commitment to the fight against doping.

''Governments have a key role in the fight against doping in sport,'' WADA president Dick Pound said in a statement.

The international convention against doping in sport is a treaty formalising the commitment of governments to the fight against the problem.

It was unanimously adopted by UNESCO's General Conference on October. 19 2005 and entered into force last week.

''By adopting the convention in just two years and ratifying it within under a year, they set a world record for UNESCO and signalled their strong commitment to clean sport,'' the WADA statement read.

''But this milestone is also a crossroads. Governments which have not ratified the treaty now need to move forward without delay,'' it added.

''The recent rash of high-profile doping cases and investigations underscore the fact that public and sports authorities need to increase co-ordination of their anti-doping activities in order to further gain efficiency in this fight.'' Pound described the changes in policies the convention allowed, writing: ''Governments can take action against the illegal manufacture, trafficking and supply of doping substances, facilitate doping controls, support education, fund research and take other equally important measures.'' The conference will take place every two years.

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