The gene genie is out of the bottle

The gene genie is out of the bottle(2001, Dec 1) The Guardian, by J. Entine

Jon Entine is renowned for his book 'Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We're Afraid to Talk About it' which controversially attempts to answer questions about the success of different kinds of races in different sports. This newspaper article is one of a number Entine has written on genetic technology noting that it is possible that there will be genetically modified athletes at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. The basis for this claim is a little hard to ascertain, though this is not necessarily a criticism, since claims about what athletes are engaged with is largely speculative. The article is written after the UCL conference on 'Genes in Sport', which took place in Novemeber 2001.

The article is largely descriptive, though includes a number of quotes from international sports personalities. What is most useful about the article is the questioning of what distinguishes therapy from enahcnement or, as Entine describes it, between 'health restoration' and 'performance enhancement'.