August 27, 2004
BRAVE NEW WORLD
Fair Play’s Farewell (Radio Netherlands, August, 27th, 2004)
The Olympics in Greece has seen the usual wave of doping stories, athletes have been stripped of medals, others have disputed test results and some have avoided tests altogether.But the current chaos may be a golden age of fair play in comparison to what will be on offer by the Beijing Games of 2008.
Advances in gene therapy designed to help the ill and elderly are being eagerly eyed by top athletes. For them an extra fraction of a percent in performance can make the difference between glorious victory and the prospect of being an obscure also-ran.
Professor Lee Sweeney, Chairman of the Department of Physiology at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, has demonstrated in lab rats that gene therapy alone can make muscles 15 percent bigger and stronger.
Once the genetically enhanced rats trained, this improvement shot up to 30 percent.
If this isn't enough of an attraction to a top sports star then add in the fact that gene therapy may be totally undetectable in tests. Here you have a performance enhancer no-one need ever know about.
It's hard to know who to blame more--the training rats or the ill and elderly.
Too bad the body is a system.
Unless ligaments, tendons, and bones see similar tensile strength increases, then it will be like putting a Hemi in a Bug.
In other words, it won't work.
Posted by: Jeff Guinn at August 27, 2004 11:40 AMJeff:
C'mon. Genetic engineering may cure muscular dystrophy, abolish disabilities and increase intelligence, but it won't allow anyone to improve athletic performance by a few percentage points? Athletes don't use all parts of the "system" in athletic competitions.
Posted by: Peter B at August 27, 2004 12:09 PMNot to mention the military applications.
Posted by: mike earl at August 27, 2004 12:28 PMMike, the most important muscle in military applications is the one between the ears.
Posted by: Robert Duquette at August 27, 2004 2:51 PMRobert:
Oh, no argument on that, but being able to carry another 15 pounds of ammunition or body armor could only be an advantage. Robots may replace the fighter pilots in 10 years, but the infantryman is safe for a while yet.
Posted by: mike earl at August 27, 2004 3:24 PMInfantry man is safe?
Posted by: Uncle Bill at August 27, 2004 3:55 PMPeter:
I'm a bit of a gear head. Try something similar on a car, say increasing the engines power output 10%.
Which is wonderful, until the driveline shatters.
Posted by: Jeff Guinn at August 27, 2004 8:07 PMBTW--as for your other examples, their intent (intelligence aside) is to restore the system to its nominal performance.
Posted by: Jeff Guinn at August 27, 2004 8:09 PMJeff:
I'm of the opinion that it will work... But not for everybody.
Just as not everyone would make a good marathon runner, nor everyone a good basketball player, it'll be a matter of matching body type to sport, and to enhancement technique.
I, and other closely related members of my family, could easily handle and benefit from the muscle-bound rats' gene therapy: We're all naturally strong, large framed, and short.
Additionally, there are plenty of genetic freaks already at the top of the sports world.
Lance Armstrong, Shaq, and Yao Ming spring to mind.
This'll just spread the wealth, so to speak.