Gene Doping in Olympic Sports

Much has been written about the emerging threat of "gene doping" in elite-level sport. Gene doping refers to the idea that athletes will literally modify their DNA in an effort to enhance their performance. Gene doping is simply an extension of the medical treatment of “gene therapy”, where DNA is modified in patients seeking treatment or cures for debilitating genetic disease. Despite the hype, no evidence exists showing that an athlete has ever attempted gene doping (though testing for it is basically impossible). Moreover, the likelihood of successful gene doping in Beijing or other near-future sporting events is remote; very significant technical hurdles remain before gene doping would ever be put to successful practice. Gene therapy trials for various medical conditions have been fraught with setbacks (including patient deaths) and progress has been slow. And because gene therapy trials are not being conducted to study sport performance but rather specific medical conditions, successful gene therapy interventions are not likely to have easy cross-over to performance enhancement, which is necessarily a different “condition” than the genetic diseases under investigation. 

Despite these limitations, the history of sport provides ample evidence that a few athletes (and/or their coaches) are not likely to concern themselves with the technical intricacies and dangers posed by gene therapy, especially with the potential for remarkable (in fact, super-human) performance enhancement. In fact, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has already established several recommendations and policies warning athletes against gene doping, though with no way to test for its use. Will an athlete someday attempt gene therapy for performance enhancement? Most certainly, though the outcome is likely to be poor (or lethal), given the significant technical hurdles. Will it happen anytime soon?  Unlikely. Perhaps the best outcome of the media coverage of gene doping will be a broader conversation of the role of performance enhancement techniques in sport. Much has been written about the potential regulation (rather than complete restriction) of drug doping for performance enhancement, and similar arguments have recently been made for gene doping. Expanding this conversation to the broader public will give important direction to improving the health and safety of our athletes.

Stephen M. Roth, Ph.D., FACSM

Department of Kinesiology

University of Maryland

Comments

[Stefan Rothe]

This is indeed, a scary subject. If you believe the latest "investigation" of a German TV Network then gene-doping does not seem too unrealistic...

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3505381,00.html