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Almost Ready to Catch 'Gene Doping' Athletes
Thu Oct 9,11:30 AM ET Add Sports - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Daniel Howden
ATHENS (Reuters) - The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is close to unveiling tests that will detect "gene doping," a leading scientist told Reuters Thursday.
The move follows mounting concern that gene therapy, used to treat chronic medical conditions such as muscular dystrophy, is being misused by unscrupulous athletes and coaches.
Professor Geoff Goldspink, from University College London, speaking on the sidelines of the four-day IOC (news - web sites) Medical Congress in Athens, said testing technology was "almost there."
"We can already detect illicit DNA and introduced gene products," said Goldspink who has been compiling a report due to be handed to WADA in Lausanne in a fortnight.
Congress delegates warned that gene doping presents a "clear and present danger" and that international sports authorities are facing the next generation of sports cheats.
"We can put genes into mice and create Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites) mice. If it can be done on mice it can be done on humans," said Goldspink.
He said that laboratory mice had shown that gene transfer could lead to a 25 percent leap in muscle mass inside two weeks. "It's inevitable that we will have this (kind of doping) if we don't already have it.
"Once the technology exists for medical use disreputable people will be putting the stuff in athletes," he warned.
Current testing methods aimed at catching athletes using banned substances such as anabolic steroids or amphetamines are powerless to catch gene cheats, scientists said.
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Almost Ready to Catch 'Gene Doping' Athletes
Thu Oct 9,11:30 AM ET Add Sports - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Daniel Howden
ATHENS (Reuters) - The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is close to unveiling tests that will detect "gene doping," a leading scientist told Reuters Thursday.
The move follows mounting concern that gene therapy, used to treat chronic medical conditions such as muscular dystrophy, is being misused by unscrupulous athletes and coaches.
Professor Geoff Goldspink, from University College London, speaking on the sidelines of the four-day IOC (news - web sites) Medical Congress in Athens, said testing technology was "almost there."
"We can already detect illicit DNA and introduced gene products," said Goldspink who has been compiling a report due to be handed to WADA in Lausanne in a fortnight.
Congress delegates warned that gene doping presents a "clear and present danger" and that international sports authorities are facing the next generation of sports cheats.
"We can put genes into mice and create Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites) mice. If it can be done on mice it can be done on humans," said Goldspink.
He said that laboratory mice had shown that gene transfer could lead to a 25 percent leap in muscle mass inside two weeks. "It's inevitable that we will have this (kind of doping) if we don't already have it.
"Once the technology exists for medical use disreputable people will be putting the stuff in athletes," he warned.
Current testing methods aimed at catching athletes using banned substances such as anabolic steroids or amphetamines are powerless to catch gene cheats, scientists said.
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Post/Read Msgs (37)
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