Bermuda is the latest signatory to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) protocol.

Sports Minister Dale Butler put pen to paper yesterday in the Cabinet Office as the Island endorsed the Copenhagen Declaration on Anti-Doping in Sport.

This step, he noted, affirmed that the Bermuda Council for Drug Free Sport would be Government?s regulatory agency responsible for upholding the necessary standards to ensure anti-doping initiatives are applied uniformly in compliance with WADA codes.

?The Copenhagen Declaration articulates a political and moral understanding among participant nations to recognise and support the role of WADA in harmonising anti-doping policies and practices in sport,? outlined the minister.

?Bermuda is well positioned to comply with the WADA Code through the procedures and policies of the Bermuda Council for Drug Free Sport, established by the ministry, in consultation with the national governing bodies of sport in the late 1980s.?

Chairman of the council Jon Beard explained they are now officially able to effect the demands of international sports organisations in relation to drug testing.

?Any time any international sport governing body, such as FIFA, informs us that they need athletes in Bermuda tested, the Bermuda Council for Drug Free Sport is now able to do this.

?So if FIFA wanted the World Cup squad tested for performance-enhancing drugs then the council ? because we have now signed on ? are Government?s arm for doing this.?