Genetic engineering in athletes

doi:10.1136/bmj.a607

Published 7 July 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a607
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a607

Editorials

Genetic engineering in athletes

Safeguards are needed before the hypothetical threat becomesa reality

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Athletes who want to maximise their performance are continuallytempted to use illegal drugs to gain competitive advantage andto aid recovery from training and injuries. Recent revelationsof widespread doping arising from investigations of the distributionofthe anabolic steroid tetrahydrogestrinone by the American companyBALCO (Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative) demonstrate the extentof this problem in world class athletes.¹

Some commentators have raised concerns that genetic modificationor "gene doping" will be the next step in the search for enhancedperformance.² ³ ⁴ ⁵ These concerns are based on some impressivestudies in genetically modified rodents where manipulation ofindividual genes has increased muscle mass, muscle strength,or running endurance, depending on the gene that was manipulated.Reviews of these animal studies conclude that such genetic manipulationscould also improve human athletic performance.⁶ ⁷