The usage of performance-enhancement substances in sports has always been strictly monitored and prohibited. The assortment of cheating methods in sports has recently spread to a new field, biotechnology. As gene therapy is slowly becoming a reality, we will soon be forced to decide what we most value in sports. Will we choose to value the displays of physical excellence athletes develop through years of dedication, or will we chose to value the feat of victory, regardless of the cost. Since the beginning of organized sports, spectators and athletes alike, have put fairness over everything else. While the end goal of every sporting event is winning, the road to victory is as important, if not more. Athletes that use biotechnology or any variation to give themselves an unfair advantage should be banned from professional sports.
Gene doping is a new technology scientists are experimenting with in order to manipulate an individuals genetic code. The goal of this genetic manipulation is to enhance performance through avenues such as strength, endurance, and stature. In the article “Gene Doping”, author Stephen Pincock explains, “ Gene doping has emerged from the promising therapeutic specialty of gene therapy, in which carefully selected fragments of genes are delivered to specific tissues or cells by means of viral or other vectors to fix genetic problems” (Pincock par. 3). What started out as a medical venture searching for the cure to diseases such as Parkinson’s and Muscular Dystrophy, gene doping has evolved into something much more.
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H. Lee Sweeney is a professor and researcher at the University of Pennsylvania who has pioneered the research in gene doping technology. In 2007, Sweeney and his colleagues conducted a lab experimenting with possible ways to restore muscle growth in patients with muscular dystrophy. During this lab, Sweeney and his colleagues created mice in a lab that developed unnaturally large muscles and strength that did not decay with old age. These “super” mice, nicknamed “Schwarzenegger mice” after the American bodybuilder/movie star, were developed through the injection of a virus withholding the gene for insulin growth factor 1 (IGF-1). IGF-1 is a protein that interacts with cells on the outside of muscle fibers and makes them grow (Kelland paragraph 18). In an interview with H. Lee Sweeney conducted by Gregory M. Lamb and published in Lamb’s article, “Will gene-altered athletes kill sports?”, Sweeney analyzes that “These same rats, showed up to 50 percent muscle growth. Rats altered in the same way gained 35 percent in strength when the technique was combined with exercise” (quoted in Lamb 13).
While technology is progressing steadily year by year, genetic modifications are still years away from being a true threat to athletics. H. Lee Sweeney has performed tests on rodents but humans are much more complicated organisms. Dominic Wells explains in his article, “Genetic Engineering in Athletes”,
Widespread genetic modification of somatic rather than germ-line tissues can be achieved in mice by using modified viruses to deliver the genetic modification, but only when used at very high doses. Scaling up such doses from a 25 g mouse to a 75 kg human will prove challenging, both in terms of the facilities needed to generate such viral vectors and the potential difference in immune responses to such viruses between mice and humans (Wells paragraph 4).
Gene doping is undoubtably an extremely complex scientific feat. It is going to take years before performing this on humans is in the realm of possibility.
Regardless of the timeline, gene doping is still a looming threat. The International Olympic Committee’s, World Anti-Doping Agency, has taken notice of this potential threat and wisely started to draw attention to it. For the first time in 2002, WADA called for a meeting with the leaders in sports and science at the Banbury Conference in New York. There, the issue of gene doping was assessed. The individuals involved in sports learned just how far science has advanced in the gene therapy field. The scientists learned how far some athletes will go to avoid the traditional route to physical excellence. Hearing from their colleagues who had already received phone calls from coaches and trainers asking how gene therapy could be applied. (Pound 3)
In its current state, gene doping if virtually unrecognizable in athletes. This is due to the lack of abnormalities or illegal substances most current tests pick up. To get ahead of the issue, WADA, has devised a plan to eradicate any temptation athletes may have. WADA is considering making Olympic athletes submit copies of their full genetic code in the near future (Houser paragraph 11) However, this could lead to even more problems in terms of privacy; especially when you take into account that some Olympic athletes are minors. This full genetic code submission would also have to be accomplished in the very near future due to the strict timeline before gene doping is achievable in humans. In addition, this would not halt genetic modification across all sports. The Olympics would be a challenge in itself but attempting to force every professional athlete in the world to submit a full genetic mapping is just unrealistic. Currently, this is the best solution WADA has developed, illustrating just how large of an issue genetic modification in athletes truly is.
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