Gene doping

Gene doping is defined by the World Anti-Doping Agency as "the non-therapeutic use of cells, genes, genetic elements, or of the modulation of gene expression, having the capacity to improve athletic performance". A complex ethical and philosophical issue develops on what exactly defines "gene doping", especially in the context of bioethical debates about human enhancement.

An example of gene doping would involve the non-therapeutic use of gene therapies used to treat muscle-wasting disorders and which will soon be entering human clinical trials. Among these are therapies that give patients a synthetic gene, which can last for years, producing high amounts of naturally occurring muscle-building hormones such as insulinlike growth factor I (IGF-I). The chemicals are indistinguishable from their natural counterparts and are only generated locally in the affected tissue. Nothing unusual enters the bloodstream, so officials will detect nothing in a blood or urine test.

With the possibility of introducing completely new synthetic genes in addition the thousands of existing genes available for overexpression, gene therapy (and therefore gene doping) is limited only by the current level of genetic knowledge and the imagination of researchers.

The historical development of policy associated with gene doping began in 2001 when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Medical Commission met to discuss the implications of gene therapy for sport. It was shortly followed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which met in 2002 to discuss genetic enhancement at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. Also in 2002, the United States President’s Council on Bioethics met twice to discuss the ethics of genetic technology related to sport. In 2003, WADA decided to include a prohibition of gene doping within their World Anti-Doping Code, which is formalised in its 2004 World Anti-Doping Code. As well, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) met in 2003 and 2004 to discuss the science and ethics of gene transfer technology for sport.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has already asked scientists to help find ways to prevent gene therapy from becoming the newest means of doping. In December 2005, the World Anti-Doping Agency hosted its second landmark meeting on gene doping, which took place in Stockholm. At this meeting, the delegates drafted a declaration on gene doping which, for the first time, included a strong discouragement on the use of genetic testing for performance.

The first product to be associated with genetic doping emerged on the approach to the Turin 2006 Olympic Winter Games, where repoxygen was discussed as a possible substance in use at the Games.