Genetic testing in sports: What, if any, role?

Posted on October 18, 2013 | 1 comment

The last fifteen years have witnessed a boom of genetic tests for sport performance. They relate both the ability to predict athletes at higher risks

A 'genetic medal'?

A ‘genetic medal’?

for specific injuries, and to the ability to predict athletic talent. They raise scientific and ethical issues related to confidentiality, conflict of interest of the sports physician, informed consent in children, and possibly infringement on the athlete’s autonomy. In this paper we distinguish here genetic tests for injury prevention in four cases: (i) concussion-related trauma brain injuries; (ii)  sudden-cardiac arrest related conditions; (iii) over-exertion complications related to the sickle-cell anemia trait; (iv) Achilles tendinopathies and anterior crucial ligament ruptures, and for athletic performance prediction in children. We argue that while the former kind of genetic tests have utility, with the bounds of specified limitations, the latter is both ethically and scientifically problematic.

Camporesi S, McNamee MJ (2013) ‘Is there a role for genetic testing in sports?‘ Encyclopedia of Life Sciences DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0024203 The article can be accessed here.

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Genetic tests to scout out children’s athletic talent: are they ‘ethical’?

Posted on May 17, 2013 | Leave a comment

New, open-access paper our for Sports Ethics & Philosophy! ‘Bend it like Beckham! The ethics of genetically testing children for athletic potential‘.

photo by Kevin Moloney for the New York Times

photo by Kevin Moloney for the New York Times

In this paper I analyse the use of direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic tests, sometimes coupled with more traditional methods of ‘talent scouting’, to assess a child’s predisposition to athletic performance. I first discuss the scientific evidence at the basis of these tests, and the parental decision in terms of education, and of investing in the children’s future, taken on the basis of the results of the tests. I then discuss how these parental practices impact on the children’s right to an open future, and on their developing sense of autonomy. I also consider the meaning and role of sports in childhood, and conclude that the use of DTC genetic tests to measure children’s athletic potential should be seen as a ‘wake up’ call for other problematic parental attitudes aimed at scouting and developing children’s talent.

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Raising the threshold for pain: Gene transfer, gene enhancement, or gene doping?

Posted on April 30, 2013 | Leave a comment

In this paper, co-authored with Professor House MD PillsMike McNamee from Swansea University,  we address the question whether it can be ethically justifiable to seek gene transfer to raise one’s own tolerance to pain in a therapeutic and in an elite sports context. As a case study we analyse a currently recruiting Phase 1 study that seeks to transfer Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor to treat pain in patients with peripheral artery disease, but that could plausibly be applied also in an elite sports context. We presented this paper at the International Association for Philosophy of Sport, Porto, Sept 12-15, 2012.

Camporesi S, McNamee MJ (2012) ‘Gene Transfer for Pain: A tool to cope with the intractable, or an unethical endurance-enhancing technology?’ Life Sciences, Society & Policy Journal 8: 20-31 doi:10.1186/1746-5354-8-1-20

You can read the full paper free of charge here.

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