Swimmers with lungs that saturate oxygen for maximum endurance; high jumpers passing over a 3-metre high bar with great muscular flexibility and explosiveness; sprinters running 100 meters in 5.00 seconds with cells cloned from cheetahs…Is this a scene from the latest Hollywood science fiction movie where “cyborgs" – cybernetic organisms – reign and star? No, this is the possible future of human genetic engineering in sports.
A Short Introduction to Genetic Engineering and Its Pros
Genetic engineering constitutes the biotechnological scientific method that simply reshuffles genes by transfer from one species to another as from fish to tomato or from human to pig. In principle, for example, scientists might inject stem cells into muscle cells with the aim of helping children replace the damaged cells of muscular dystrophy.
According to Biologyonline many hereditary diseases might be halted as individuals with a genetic predisposition could be detected and remedied. Also some infectious diseases might be avoided via the implantation of genes which code for antiviral proteins specific to each antigen.
In the realm of sports, particularly, modern day researchers are investigating the possibility of isolating "performance" genes (the good ones, the desirable ones) and altering dysfunctional ones. “The growth factor that we're using, the stem cells that we're using, the gene therapy that we have been performing, can be used to improve the strength of a muscle," are the exact words of Johnny Huard, faculty member of the University of Pittsburgh’s Molecular Genetics Department.
Intervening in Genetic Makeup and Producing Genetically Modified Super-Athletes
At first glance, similar claims sound optimistic, but this is not actually the case. On the contrary, the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) is on alert that genetic engineering will bring about alterations to the non-hereditary "somatic" cells of the body, This means that the genes of super-athletes will be correlated with the genes of young athletes and the ultimate target of this “gene marriage” will be to create an array of new cyborg athletes with extraordinary physical powers and the potential to break every previously-established world record.
Peter Weyand, kinesiology professor at Rice University in Houston, describes this possibility in an easy to grasp and engaging manner: “You don't need to lift weights, and you don't need to go on 10-mile runs to train for endurance. It would replace training; it would make training seem trivial and more than obsolete. Somebody who's not athletic at all could be transformed into something superhuman."
Another factor that renders genetic engineering in the realm of sports alarming is that it is rather “doping enhancing”: the chemical substance (the drug) can be detected in the athlete’s blood or urine samples but what about their genes? Will there ever be an anti-doping control system that distinguishes "pure", "God-given" genes from genetically modified, "fake" ones? Is all of this talk and thought too utopic or too distant?
It’s All in the Eye of the Beholder
This speculation and conversation will continue for a long time. The dilemmas of genetic engineering and gene transfers will continue. Whose side will win and where do you stand on this important debate?
Stavroula Dimitropoulos - MSc, BSc
