Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and CCES Acknowledge NSF International's Certified for Sport(TM) Certification as Important Milestone
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. and EDMONTON, Alberta, Sept. 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Afexa Life Sciences Inc. ("Afexa") (TSX:FXA) today announced that COLD-FX(R) has received the highest sports certification in North America from the leading product safety and banned substances testing body for elite athletes.
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The certification comes from NSF International, a U.S.-based, not-for-profit public health and safety organization, under its NSF Certified for Sport(TM) program. NSF's special certification program is used by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC), the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES), the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and the PGA.
Ed Wyszumiala, General Manager of NSF's Dietary Supplements Certification programs says, "COLD-FX received this sports certification after undergoing a rigorous testing program, which included a series of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) facility audits, label claim testing/verification and banned substance testing for over 130 analytes. All of these requirements were met in addition to meeting the requirements in NSF/ANSI* Standard 173, which is the only accredited American National Standard for dietary supplements and ingredients."
With ongoing monitoring and testing, athletes can feel confident that COLD-FX has met and will continue to meet all of NSF's certification requirements to ensure the product is free of banned substances.
"We congratulate COLD-FX on achieving this important certification, and we are pleased we can showcase this product to the world as an example of Canadian scientific ingenuity and innovation," says VANOC Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jack Taunton. "Afexa has done praiseworthy and unique research in the field of cold and flu medicine and will help keep our workforce healthy during the Games as we prepare to host the world in 2010."
Earlier this year, COLD-FX was chosen as the Official Cold and Flu Remedy of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. COLD-FX's high standards for safety and efficacy were key factors in it being selected for this important recognition.
CCES - the body which administers Canada's doping control program - praised COLD-FX's certification. Paul Melia, CEO of CCES says, "The certification demonstrates Afexa's leadership and corporate responsibility to Canadian athletes. I hope this will set an example for other supplement and sports nutrition companies in Canada."
Afexa's Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Jacqueline Shan says, "COLD-FX has a long history of use by amateur and professional athletes in Canada due to its effectiveness and safety backed by a decade of science and clinical trials. Our ChemBioPrint(R) standardization technology ensures batch-to-batch consistency. We are pleased that NSF Certification supports the results of a ground-breaking clinical trial conducted by a team of sports researchers at the University of Manitoba in 2002. It concluded that COLD-FX does not contain any International Olympic Committee (IOC)-banned or restricted substances and does not produce or induce banned substances in the body. The results were published in a leading peer-reviewed sports/medicine journal in 2004. Afexa is committed to developing products that are both safe and effective for elite athletes as well as the general public."
COLD-FX is widely used by Canadian Olympians and was first recommended to elite athletes by the Canadian Sport Centre Calgary in 2003. Earlier this year, all of the Canadian Sport Centres decided to recommend it to their athletes to help keep them in top health in this particularly challenging flu season.
Canadian Sport Centre Calgary President Dale Henwood says, "This certification is an important achievement. It provides additional confirmation for athletes who regard COLD-FX as a key part of their health regimen." Afexa is providing COLD-FX to 1,500 athletes, coaches, trainers and support staff at sport centres in seven provinces where the country's elite athletes train, including those preparing for the 2010 Winter Games.
Olympic Gold Medalist Clara Hughes says, "Many of my teammates and I rely upon it. I've gone through dozens and dozens of tests since I started taking COLD-FX over six years ago, and each time they come back negative for banned substances. NSF Certification is just further confirmation that athletes can take it without having to worry."
COLD-FX will be the exclusive cold and flu remedy available at general stores within the Olympic and Paralympic Villages in Vancouver and Whistler. VANOC has arranged with Afexa to make COLD-FX available to close to 40,000 volunteers, staff and media during the 2010 Winter Games.
*American National Standards Institute
To view the entire news release, please visit http://www.nsf.org/info/press/index.asp?p_id=16889.
CONTACTS: Greta Houlahan NSF International 734-913-5723 [email protected] Warren Michaels Afexa Life Sciences Inc. 780-432-0022 [email protected]
SOURCE NSF International
