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The ruling by a British information office to keep a laboratory's drugs testing details secret was crucial in the fight against doping in sports, the World Anti-Doping Agency said on Thursday.

The Information Commissioner's Office upheld a decision earlier this week by a lab at London's King's College not to reveal doping test procedures due to concerns the information could be used to create untraceable substances for athletes.

"Generally speaking, openness and transparency in relation to the rules in place are important in the fight against doping in sport in order to ensure that clean athletes have confidence in the system," WADA spokesman Frederic Donze said.

"However .... intelligence and discretion can also be key weapons to catch cheaters and deter those athletes who may be tempted to follow the same path."

Donze said the decision did not break WADA rules and that the the development of a recent test to detect EPO CERA, a substance that boosts performance, was done by WADA "in cooperation with the manufacturer of this substance and accredited laboratories".

Several Tour de France cyclists saw their samples test positive over the last week for the banned drug, which until recently was thought to be undetectable.

The Information Commissioner's Office had ruled on a request from an unnamed complainant to reveal details of tests to detect performance-enhancing drugs.

WADA and the International Olympic Committee have increased their efforts against doping in sports and only a handful of athletes tested positive for performance-enhancing substances after extensive testing at the Beijing Olympic Games.

They will also rechecking and storing some 5,000 samples from the Beijing Games for a period of eight years to ensure any substances that were unknown at the time of the Games will be detected with new tests in the future.

Some of the most recent doping cases came to light only after whistleblowers sent a sample of the new untraceable 'designer' drug to authorities, who were were then able to develop a test for it.

(Source: Reuters)