A few grains of household soap powder can destroy the banned drug EPO in an athlete's urine sample, wrecking a test that cost $2 million to develop, said Mario Thevis, an anti-doping researcher in Cologne, Germany.

Scientists made the discovery after a former Tour de France cyclist said he was given an unidentified powder to sabotage surprise tests, said Thevis, who works at the World Anti-Doping Agency-accredited biochemistry unit of German Sports University.

``One or two tiny little granules of washing powder are all that is needed,'' Thevis said in a telephone interview last week from Cologne.

Synthetic EPO, or erythropoietin, was developed to treat anemia by increasing red blood-cell production. Athletes take it illicitly to improve endurance. Authorities began checking competitors for it at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

``Cheats appear to have found a way around the test with backyard science,'' said Robin Parisotto, a researcher in Canberra, Australia, who helped develop the test for the drug. The International Olympic Committee and the Australian government spent $2 million to develop the test, he said in a telephone interview Oct. 26 from his home.

Thevis, one of the researchers in the study, said anti- doping authorities may need to start checking for protease, a class of enzymes that destroys EPO and is in soap powder, dishwashing solution and contact-lens cleaner.

Enzymes
The body uses naturally occurring enzymes to break down proteins, such as EPO.

The drug is sold as Aranesp by Amgen Inc. and Procrit by Johnson & Johnson. They were among the world's top-20 selling drugs last year, generating $7.3 billion between them.

There's no reference to protease on the World Anti-Doping Agency's list of banned substances. Olivier Rabin, the agency's science director, was unavailable to comment, spokesman Frederic Donze said. IOC medical director Patrick Schamasch didn't immediately respond to a phone message and e-mail seeking comment.

In May, Bjarne Riis, the 1996 Tour de France winner, said he took EPO for five years during his career. Cross-country skiers Johann Muehlegg and Larissa Lazutina gave back their Olympic gold medals at the 2002 Winter Games after testing positive for EPO.

Jesus Manzano, a former Tour cyclist who left the sport in 2003, said athletes still use EPO while training because it leaves the body quickly.

Manzano
Manzano said in 2004 that he used EPO when he was competing. He was given a red powder to use if anti-doping officials came to his home for a surprise test. He said in an interview in April at his home in Madrid that he didn't know what the powder was.

His former team, the now-defunct Liberty Seguros, has denied wrongdoing and said Manzano acted independently.

Thevis said using soap powder would destroy all EPO in urine, both synthetic and what is produced naturally by kidney cells.

No EPO was found in 17 percent of 3,050 athletes' urine samples examined between 2003 and 2006 by the Swiss anti-doping laboratory in Lausanne, said Neil Robinson, who helped compile the study published in this month's edition of medical journal Clinica Chimica Acta.

``You have to be very careful when accusing anyone,'' Robinson said in a telephone interview last week from his lab in Lausanne. ``You can have little EPO by drinking huge amounts of water. It will also deteriorate if you're transporting a sample a long distance, say, from Uganda.''

It also could be difficult to prove that laundry soap hasn't come from an athlete's clothes, Michael Ashenden, an Australian anti-doping researcher, said in an interview.

Robinson said the simplest solution to stop tampering is to urge vigilance by sports officials who collect urine samples.

``Pay attention,'' he said. ``And make sure athletes wash their hands first.''

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