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Top Experts and Olympic Cyclist to Address Gene Doping in Sports at Public Forum

(Portland, Ore.) February 7, 2005 - Most of today's synthetic performance-enhancing drugs, from anabolic steroids to erythropoietin (EPO), may be abandoned in favor of "gene doping” the modification of a person's genetic makeup to improve athletic performance. Unlike current performance-enhancing drugs, gene doping will be far more effective and virtually undetectable.

Thomas Murray, Ph.D., a bioethics expert and president of the Hastings Center, believes, there will be "a great deal of gossip about genetic enhancement" as well as entrepreneurs offering it, as early as the 2008 Olympics. Ted Friedmann, M.D., a gene therapy expert from the University of San Diego, recently said it wouldn't surprise any of us if tomorrow we picked up a newspaper and saw that (an athlete) had died of a stroke after getting involved with gene therapy.

To address this issue, two world-renowned experts in gene therapy, ethics and law and one world-class athlete will be laying the framework for one of the first public discussions in the United States linking genetic enhancement to the future of sports. The public discussion Super Athletes: A Public Dialogue about Genetic Enhancement and Sports, will be held at a free breakfast forum on Friday, February 11, 2005 from 8-11 a.m. at Portland State University's Smith Memorial Student Union, Multicultural Center, Room 228 (1825 SW Broadway). For more information about the event or to make reservations contact PSU's Center for Academic Excellence at caestaff@pdx.edu or 503-725-5642. Space is limited.

Panelists will include:

  • Ted Friedmann, M.D. is the director of the program in Gene Therapy at the University of San Diego. His article, “Gene Therapy for Human Genetic Disease?” is one of the most respected treatises on the subject.
  • Mari Holden, silver medalist in the 2000 Olympic time trial and the first U.S. Olympic road cyclist since 1984 to win an Olympic medal in road cycling.
  • Max Mehlman, J.D. is a professor of Biomedical Ethics and the director of the Law-Medicine Center at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland. His book, Wondergenes: Genetic Enhancement and the Future of Society has been described as "the most sophisticated discussion of enhancement ever written."

The event will open with remarks by Tom Goldman, sports correspondent for National Public Radio's "Morning Edition," and the panel discussion will be moderated by Lisa Weasel, Ph.D., associate professor of Biology at PSU.

"Gene doping could change the competitive nature of sports like never before," said Greg Fowler, Ph.D., executive director of Geneforum, a Portland-based non-profit that educates, engages and consults the public on bioethical issues and co-sponsor of the event. "Unlike synthetic substances currently used by athletes, genetic enhancement will instruct the body to produce natural substances to improve performance thus making detection extremely difficult. And, if there is no way to detect it, how are we going to regulate it and ensure a level playing field for all athletes?"

Richard Pound, chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), recently wrote in the December 2004 issue of Play True that, in addition to better testing methods, education remains a more important way to stop doping. Pound wrote: "If we root out the problem before it takes hold in young athletes, then we stand a much better chance of ridding sport of doping once and for all." "In the short term, education may be our only way to keep gene doping in check, especially given the detection challenges," said Fowler. "Portland State University is an educational institution as well as a training ground for many aspiring athletes and thus a perfect launch pad for this topic."

The public forum is part of the annual series of Civic Engagement Breakfasts sponsored by the Center for Academic Excellence at Portland State University. Co-sponsors include Geneforum, Rose Tucker Charitable Trust, Center for Public Participation in the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government at PSU and Oregon Public Broadcasting.