GENETICALLY MODIFIED ATHLETES: BIOMEDICAL ETHICS, GENE DOPING AND SPORT
| Editors: Andy Miah
Bibliographic Data: ISBN: 0-415-29880-6 (pbk)/ 0-415-29879-2 (hbk), Routledge, an imprint of Taylor & Francis Books Lt, 2004 (July), 232 pages, £23.99/ £65.00, paperback/hardcover
Subjects: Bioethics, genetic modification, sports science.
Reviewed by: Fadil Ozyener, MD, PhD, Uludag University Medical School, Bursa, Turkey.
© Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2004) 3, 197
| DESCRIPTION | The author discusses the extremely important issue of modifying athletes genetically in order to develop elite sportsmen. He sheds light on various aspects of bioethics and their implications for the practices and management of sport in general.
| | PURPOSE | | The aim of this book, as described by the author, is to examine the concept of 'good sport' and definitions of cheating; privacy rights and how to use genetic data for sport; the correct using of the terms 'doping' and 'anti-doping' and notions of autonomy, dignity and personhood.
| | AUDIENCE | This book by Andy Miah targets the sport community at large. It will be of interest to a wide range of sport scholars and practitioners such as the athlete, the coach, any management personnel and even the average fan. The author is a lecturer and tutor in the fields of media, bioethics and cyberculture at the University of Paisley and University of Glasgow. He has also published numerous scientific papers on the subject of sports and genetic technology.
| | FEATURES | The book composed of 4 sections and 11 chapters in 232 pages. In the introduction section anti-doping and performance enhancement issues are discussed starting with the important question: "Why genetics now?". Section 2 is about conceptualising genetics in sport by arguing the imminent applications for the genetically modified athlete in chapter 3 and interests, politics, and ways of reasoning in Chapter 4. Subsequently, the ethical status of genetical modification in sport is brought forward in the third section by dealing with issues like humanness, dignity, autonomy, personhood, identity, the ethics of authenticity, disease, illness, health, well-being and enhancement as well as unfair advantages and other harms in chapters 5 to 8. Finally, in the last section various other issues regarding genetically modified athletes are discussed. For instance, the topic in the ninth chapter is whether genetical modification is enhancing, altering, or manipulating people? In the tenth chapter the argument is about the need of genetic modification in sport, and in the eleventh chapter the author presents challenging conclusions & implications regarding biomedical ethics, gene doping and sport.
| | ASSESMENT | | This extremely interesting book is a must for everyone who takes the ethics in sports seriously. In other words, it is compulsory reading for anyone interested in the future of the athletes and the sports in the forthcoming 'era' of genetically engineered sports person. | |
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