Slashdot Mirror
Genetically-Engineered Super-Athletes?
Karma 50 writes: "The BBC News is reporting that
genetically modified "super-athletes" may be competing as soon as the 2012 Olympic games. A conference in London warns that gene therapies for diseases such as Cystic Fibrosis may be used by athletes to enhance performance. So far, this is undetectable. So we're not immediately facing the prospect of watching athletes bred especially for their performance but, with our desire to win at all costs, this too can't be far off."
Have they not seen the Chinese gymnastics teams of the past few Olympiads? I think this is OLD news.
My parents did the same, for both me and my sister. But since my sister was named "Rebecca" and not "Gene", the food didn't successfully modify her.
< rim shot >
Damn - that's what I was thinking! Are *all* us guys so screwed up that we can't think of anything without coming down to sex? Yes? Good :).
Amen brother, if the world was full of super-models, one of them would have to date me.
Depending on your diet, you CAN be jet-powered ... not very much at the moment, but like the original poster said - breakthroughs in diet ...
We do not live in the 21st century. We live in the 20 second century.
It's for people who don't like the look of thier horoscopes.
cmclean
"Any similarity between the hooting of a million eager monkeys and Slashdot is purely coincidental." -THEFLASHMAN
GO BO! I have a hunch Bo Jackson (Oakland Raiders)
may have done just that without genetics, merely
steroid abuse. Any thoughts?
How do we separate drugs from nutrition. Last olympics, an athelete was accused of using drugs because they seemed to be detected in his body. Turns out he just ate a lot of a certain nutrient and his body produced the chemical naturally.
Here's an idea. Atheletes should be allowed to use any chemical that they want, so long as it occurs naturally in the human body. If you die of liver failure or somthing like that within ten years after winning, they take back your medal.
What the hell is the difference if one athelete produces loads of a hormone naturally and another injects it?
Or maybe they should just do a variation of Roman law and say that it's illegal to use any drug which is detectable. If you can't detect it, it shouldn't be illegal.
___
It's the end of my comment as I know it and I feel fine.
Imagine being able to take a shot a day of some exotic drug and then being able to almost instantly understand COM?
managers...why god invented purgatory