The Human Genome Project has led to many advancements in the medical field, such as gene therapy. Gene therapy is used to treat or prevent congenital diseases. While this is beneficial to people with inherited diseases and is a great accomplishment for the scientific community, it unintentionally lead to gene doping in athletes. Gene doping is the use of artificial genes to enhance athletic performance. It can endanger the athlete’s health and is difficult to test. It has become an ethical and social issue in the athletic community because it leaves the playing field uneven for athlete’s that do not want to gene dope or do not have the resources to access to gene doping. It is a social issue because many people in the athletic community oppose gene doping. It is largely opposed because it puts the athlete at unnecessary risk and compromises other athletes.
Gene therapy is one of the many advancements to come from the Human Genome project. Gene therapy is experimentally used to treat and prevent genetic diseases by replacing the diseased gene with a non-diseased gene. From gene therapy, gene doping has been created. The World Anti-Doping Agency defines gene doping as, “he non-therapeutic
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It would not be able to be tested like a regular drug (i.e. blood or urine test) because it becomes part of the athlete’s body. A recent study completed by scientists, explains an accurate way to test for gene doping. It can be detected by, “a direct approach based on the presence of traces of transgenic DNA in blood circulation after somatic gene transfer” (Beiter, Zimmermann, Fagasso, Hudemann, Niess, Bitzer, & Simon, 2011). Any doctor or coach who solicits gene doping is breaking ethical standards and could be at risk for losing their job and or