2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Latest-generation BEREG KIT Anti-doping Bottles Delivered to Rio Olympics Organizers

PR65307

ZURICH, Aug. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

     The organizers of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

have taken delivery of the latest generation of BEREG KIT anti-doping bottles

from Berlinger Special AG of Switzerland. This latest version of these special

bottles, which are used to prevent tampering with anti-doping samples, has been

manufactured in Switzerland since the end of April 2016 under the tightest

security conditions, and is globally acknowledged to be the most secure of its

kind. The new BEREG KIT bottles have been in use with various anti-doping

agencies around the world for some weeks now, and will also be used in the

anti-doping tests at the Rio Summer Olympics, which begin on Friday 5 August.

    Additional security provisions

    The BEREG KIT security bottles for anti-doping samples have been

continuously developed and refined since they were first produced in 1994. The

latest version, whose manufacture has been under way in Switzerland since the

end of April, has been provided with additional security features to ensure

that any tampering with the samples contained therein can be effectively ruled

out.

    The new security features are part of an evolutionary development process

for the BEREG KIT product, and have been devised and incorporated in

collaboration with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), national anti-doping

organizations and private anti-doping agencies. The BEREG KIT bottles are

tamper-evident, i.e. any illegal or improper opening of the samples concerned

can be detected with 100% certainty. Berlinger Special AG declines to provide

any further details of the security provisions involved.

    A certificated product with high security standards

    The BEREG KIT anti-doping bottles are manufactured in Switzerland under the

strictest security conditions. These include a comprehensive appraisal of each

of the bottle's various security features by a materials testing institute that

has been certificated for such expertise by the Swiss national authorities. The

previous versions of the BEREG KIT anti-doping bottles have also been subjected

to such extensive testing - both by the manufacturer and by the relevant

external specialists - and have also been declared tamper-evident by the

authorities concerned.

    McLaren Report on the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics

    It was confirmed at the media conference in Toronto (Canada) on 18 July on

the findings of the independent investigation led by Professor Richard McLaren

into allegations of the manipulation of anti-doping samples at the 2014 Sochi

Winter Olympic Games that BEREG KIT security bottles could continue to be

unreservedly used for the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games. The latest BEREG KITs

which have now been delivered to the Rio organizers are not comparable with

those used at the Sochi Winter Games in 2014, and are still regarded as the

most secure anti-doping bottles in the world. Berlinger Special AG will also be

supporting the anti-doping authorities and the anti-doping laboratory in Brazil

if desired, by contributing its expertise and years of experience in the field.

The specialists at Berlinger Special AG can determine at any time whether one

of the company's anti-doping bottles has been counterfeited or tampered with.

    Dedicated to fair and clean sporting competition

    Swiss-based Berlinger Special AG has been supporting the endeavours of the

world's anti-doping authorities for over ten years now. With its globally

unique expertise and its constant further evolutionary development of the

security bottles it produces for handling blood and urine samples, Berlinger

Special AG is dedicated to helping ensure fair and clean sport. As CEO Andrea

Berlinger says: "We support WADA and all the national anti-doping agencies and

organizations which, like our company, are committed to fair sporting

competition."

     Further information:

    Berlinger Special AG, Hans Klaus, media spokesman, c/o KLAUS METZLER

ECKMANN SPILLMANN, CH-8001 Zurich, Switzerland

    Phone +41-43-544-1744 / Mobile +41-79-357-0357

    Email klaus@kmespartner.com / http://www.berlinger.com

SOURCE: Berlinger Special AG