Fluoride checks will be made in the start and finish areas in the World Cup race as early as November this year. This gives the athletes something more to relate to beyond doping tests.
– The development continues according to the set schedule. In September and October, the teams and the service industry will have the opportunity to use the equipment. Prototypes will probably be produced in three to four weeks, says the cross-country manager of FIS, Pierre Mignerey, to NTB.
The test equipment will look more or less like a starting pistol. Mignerey points to two important points.
– We have already tested the equipment in a laboratory and received confirmation that it works, but tests will also be done outside. Then we need to confirm the processes around the cleaning of the vessels that have been used for many years with fluorine products. We have a cleaning process that we imagine works, but we must have this confirmed, he says – and adds:
– According to the company Kompass, which has developed the test equipment, this washing of the skis is not a difficult process. But it will require quite a few cleanings to remove traces of fluoride. This will probably also mean that the cleanings will take place frequently, also during the season. Fluoride can also move from inside the ski to the outside.
Comprehensive
– The ski can be fluoride-free after it has been washed, but then turn out to be a test after it has been used for a few days or in a ski bag. I hope that this autumn we can establish that we have a safe cleaning method, and as it looks now, it is not expensive, but it will take some time, Mignerey continues.
Cross-country skiers like to have their favorite ships that they have had and used for several years. These contain traces of fluoride after the use of such products until the ban came.
– I feel that FIS has done a good job with this. It is important that we can feel safe in this new system. FIS must also set a limit that makes it less interesting to be close to it, says the Norwegian lubrication manager in cross-country skiing, Stein Olav Snesrud, to NTB.
– You fear no Fluorgate scandal for the winter?
– No, but there is an intense job going on now to find good products that do not contain fluoride, says Snesrud.
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It is not clear what kind of sanctions can apply if the regulations are broken.
The board of the Norwegian Ski Association (NSF) decided this summer that the fluoride ban will be extended to apply to all classes and competitions in Norway. A Norwegian ban was in place in all classes up to the age of 16 from last season.
The fluoride ban is a clear signal from FIS that the association does not want to use products that prove to be hazardous to health, also for the service people. Consideration for the environment is also part of the rationale.
This can be read on the Norwegian Cancer Society’s website : The use of ski lubrication with fluorine or fluorocarbons can give high values of environmental toxins in the blood. Fluoride compounds from certain types of ski lubricants and other products, can be stored in the body and are suspected of contributing to the development of testicular and kidney cancer.
The cross-country skiing season starts with the competition in November. The World Cup in Oberstdorf (February 23 – March 7) is the highlight of the winter.
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