The Pros And Cons Of Gene Doping

Gene doping is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as “the transfer of genes or genetically modified cells into an individual as a potential method for illicitly enhancing athletic performance.” It is is a relatively new method of modifying the human genome for the purpose of increasing athletic performance. Gene doping can be traced back to research presented in the late 1990’s concerning genetic modification of skeletal muscles (Barton-Davis et al., 1998; McPherron et al., 1997). The research conducted by Burton Davis et al. (1998) has shown that with the while modifying certain genes, muscle fiber in the adult mice test cases have shown an increase of muscle mass and strength at around 15% compared to untreated mice. The origins of this research was originally intended to treat and cure genetic disorders; however, methods such as these have been taken into the athletic community as a way to increase human muscle through genome modification/engineering. However there are limitations to this concept. According to academic papers, case studies, and professionals in the field, there have been no documented cases of this genetic modification being successful among in a human test case. This idea of modifying genes for the benefit …show more content…
This examination will combine multiple aspects of gene doping to determine the harmful effects (or lack thereof) that gene doping could have on athletes and their competition. Currently, this field is stratified with highly specified research in which in it only examines a small aspect of gene doping. This paper is unique and necessary because it examines multiple aspects of gene doping and examines how those aspects truly affect athletes and their athletic