Athletes Who Cheat!
You might be wondering what is on the drawing board, right? Well, wonder no more. Consistent with earlier postings is another one on genetically enhancing athletes! Sounds like a great idea. Or, does it? Frankly, I haven’t heard any of my colleagues in exercise physiology talking about it. But, honestly, why would I think exercise physiologists would be against cheating in athletics? Most aren’t against using performance enhancers, especially the faculty members who have had the opportunity to do research in sports supplements. What is scary to the core are the human enhancers on the verge of being promoted. The technology is there or it is just around the corner. Read what C. Ben Mitchell, PhD, wrote in an Editorial [1]. “…through the use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, human embryos are screened for undesirable genetic traits and embryos with those traits and embryos with those traits are not transferred to a woman’s uterus — they are discarded or used in embryo-destructive research. This is not enhancement, but negative eugenics.”
Is it a good thing that parents will be able to make their children different before their children have the opportunity to think about it. Is it their life? Or, is it they will be great full for their parents’ actions? Will the children be happy about their additional athletic skills or will they wake up wishing for a different life? Will the genetically-defined athletes be human life everybody else? Will they understand the work it takes for the “average” to excel? Must athletics be about winning and nothing else? Will parents wake up one morning hearing the screams of the their son or daughter saying, “Enhance me or kill me!”
When will athletes wake up and say to the world, “This isn’t right.” Coaches and others, especially the sports nutrition types, and the gone-wrong exercise physiologists, will then sense the need to run for the hills. Will they run or will they stand on the street corner and sale sports supplements much like the snake oil salesman decades (or should I say) yesterday on television? The act of gaining a “competitive advantage” is over the edge. It is now a battlefield of stupid ideas. Many athletes, certainly not all, are no different from junkies who need their fix.
But, of course, when they are caught, the message changes. “I did it for the fans.” Or, “Everyone’s doing it. Might as well be approved.” “Really, sudden death, forget it. That doesn’t happen.” “Side effects, get serious. Do I look like I’m growing a third arm?” Did I hear you say it is all about hard work and dedication? Get serious. Athletics, like most things in life, is all about cheating, whether it is a game or friends. If you can cheat your way to a position, do it. That’s life as most people know it. This is not only bad news, but bad news for humanity as well.
Reference
1. Mitchell, C. B. (2008). Genetically Enhancing Athletes? International Journal of Bioethics. 24:1:5-6.