The World Anti-Doping Agency’s Taskforce on Unintentional Doping has invited everyone, including athletes and support personnel, to contribute to a study on unintentional doping, with a deadline for submissions of 23rd June, 2025.
As part of the BIU’s contribution to this important topic, we spoke to Sue Backhouse, a UK academic and anti-doping expert who is a member of the taskforce, about what we mean by unintentional doping, and what are its consequences.

Sue is Professor of Psychology and Nutrition, Head of the Centre for Human Performance and Director of Research for Sport and Exercise Science, Leisure and Tourism at Leeds Beckett University.

In the interview, she began by explaining that there is presently no universally-accepted definition of unintentional doping, a predicament that the taskforce is seeking to address. Likewise, no figures exist for the proportion of anti-doping violations that are attributable to unintentional doping, albeit one limited study found that about 8%  of adverse analytical findings were unintentional.

Sue offered some great tips to athletes to avoid unintentional doping, including avoiding uncertified weight-loss and muscle-building supplements, along with meat products from certain countries which have been identified by WADA.

To listen to the interview, click here.