DNA May Soon Be in Play

DNA May Soon Be in Play (2004, Aug 27) LA Times, by Alan Zarembo

James Wilson's research on EPO begins this piece, another example of medical research applied to the alleged non-medical context of sport - though how sport performances can be conceived as non-medical is a little unclear. Olivier Rabin (WADA) acknowledges that 'abuse' is on the horizon, drawing attention to WADA's 2003 ban on gene doping. The article makes some useful connections to other science - particularly Jeese Gelsinger - and Leon Kass is quoted with an expected restrictive statement. Kass would prefer to cheer athletes and not chemists, but the illusion is that athletes currently get there without the science, when science is integral to our present appreciation of elite sports. They are already overwhelmingly technological.

Ronald Evans from the Salk Institute of Biological Studies in La Jolla is also referenced as being able to create more efficient and stronger hearts, which can translate into greater exercise capacity.

Finally, Zarembo referecnes Francoise Lasne at the French National anti-doping Laboratory, which claims that it is possible to detect modified EPO in the blood, though this is surely not the end of the story.