Gene Doping in World Football (Soccer)
The excitement leading up to the FIFA World Cup even got me wearing England white and red today in anticipation of the England vs. Paraguay game. (I currently live in London.) One of the major developments in soccer/football in the run-up to the World Cup included the ratification of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) code by the FIFA Congress. Soccer/football was the last of the Olympic sports to agree to anti-doping.
Doping, of course, isn’t going to be limited to steroids and other pharmaceuticals in the future. Gene doping is already on the minds of many including German speedskating coach Thomas Springstein who asked a doctor how he could buy Repoxygen:
Repoxygen™ is designed to be delivered by injection into muscle. Here it produces EPO when the underlying anaemia results in low systemic oxygen concentrations. This will lead to the selective increase in the number of red blood cells, which carry oxygen round the body. As the red blood cell count reaches normal levels and the systemic oxygen concentration reaches normal levels, the EPO gene is switched off.
Originally designed for use in treating anemia, Repoxygen could become one of the ways in which athletes use gene therapy to boost their endurance and stamina. And as my husband can vouch, soccer players definitely need endurance and stamina. Go England!
For more on gene doping in sports, see:
Tags: athletes, DNA, doping, drugs, fifa, fifa-world-cup, football, gene-doping, Genes, genetics, soccer, sports, wada, world-cupRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Genetic Engineering, Genetic Future, Genetic Testing
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2 opinions for Gene Doping in World Football (Soccer)
Genetics and Health » DNA Testing of Cyclists
Sep 22, 2006 at 4:07 pm
[…] The sport of cycling has been rife with doping controversies and now, the UCI ProTour council wants to require DNA testing on ProTour cyclists as well. I’m not sure what they’re planning since I can’t find any details on the proposal, but gene doping in sports has been discussed before. After another tainted season, the UCI-ProTour council said it wanted to create a scientific profile of the top riders to which their performances could be compared. Beyond the medical feasibility of DNA testing, the legal implications of such a measure must be studied. […]
shayan
Jul 27, 2007 at 6:27 am
hi
creatine and glutamine is e doping in soccer??????????????
thx
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