MLB, MLBPA issue joint statement on drug testing

In the aftermath of Giants outfielder Melky Cabrera's recent 50-game suspension for testing positive for testosterone, Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association issued a joint statement on Monday.

"In recent days, there has been much commentary about the testing protocols for testosterone under the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program," the statement read. "Unfortunately, much of that commentary has been inaccurate."

The joint statement also went into the details about the testing program for testosterone, reiterating that baseball's program uses a testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio of 4 to 1 as a screening device.

All samples with a ratio above 4 to 1 are subjected to carbon isotope ratio testing -- which tests if the testosterone in the urine is natural or synthetic -- along with many samples with a ratio less than that.

The testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio, along with other characteristics of every sample, are analyzed at a World Anti-Doping Agency-certified laboratory in Montreal.

"The procedures used in the Montreal laboratory make more extensive use of CIR than those used in other labs," Christiane Ayotte, the director of the WADA-certified laboratory in Montreal said in the release. "And there is no doubt that baseball's program detects testosterone positives that other programs would fail to detect."