Dwain Chambers' leprosy comments 'offensive and misleading' - group

The Leprosy Mission has denounced leprosy comments by disgraced British sprinter Dwain Chambers in the media this week as "offensive and misleading".

Speaking in The Sun newspaper, Chambers said he felt he was being treated like a "leper", referring to the cold shoulder he has received from the British athletic community since testing positive for the banned THG steroid in 2003, for which he served a two-year ban.

Chambers was reluctantly selected to represent Britain at the World Indoor Championships next month after winning Sunday's 60m trials. His athletic future looks bleak, however, after the chief organiser of Europe's athletic meetings said that athletes tarnished with doping bans would be blocked from competing at the events.

High profile athletics, including Dame Kelly Holmes and Liz McColgan, were among those calling on Chambers to abandon his return to athletics.

Chambers responded to critics, saying, "I'm being made to feel like a leper. A terrible stigma has been attached to me but people need to know I am clean."

The Leprosy Mission expressed its disappointment that no newspapers covering Chambers' comments remarked on "the fact that this is a hugely offensive statement".

One person is diagnosed with leprosy every two minutes and sufferers often face family and community rejection, and in some cases even divorce.

Chambers "probably also doesn't know that comments like his, especially when projected into the media, perpetuate the myths that people affected by leprosy should be isolated and that leprosy is highly contagious", the Leprosy Mission said.

The organisation stressed that leprosy is curable and that the risk of the disease spreading to another person disappears within two weeks of starting treatment, meaning that sufferers do not need to be isolated.

The Leprosy Mission also hit out at leading newspapers and news agencies for using inconsiderate headlines to cover Chambers' comments, including Sky News' "Dwain's 'Leper' feeling" and The Telegraph's "Don't treat me like a leper".

"Unlike Chambers, most people affected by leprosy don't get a chance to clear their names from stigma because of the ignorance that assumes they are 'dirty'," said the organisation.

"Again unlike Chambers, most people affected by leprosy live below the poverty line and so can't appeal to the public to respect them and treat them fairly.

"Considering leprosy still affects millions of people in the world today, it is outrageous that these statements are seen as acceptable in a country which is happily free of the disease and its consequences."