During the semester we feature a technology with legal, social, and ethical implications and ask: What’s your answer? One $25 gift card to City Central Coffee, located on the 6th floor of the Beus Center for Law and Society, will be awarded based on the thoughtful comments below. Deadline to be eligible for this month’s gift card is March 2, 2018.
It’s that time of year. The air is cold, snow is falling… well, not in Phoenix, but somewhere. Like PyeongChang, South Korea – home of the 2018 Winter Olympics!
For some, these games are already tainted by scandal. The International Olympic Committee is refusing to allow nearly 40 Russian athletes to compete after an investigation into an extensive, state-backed doping program.
But new kind of doping may be on the horizon: Gene Doping. This is the ability to enhance athletic performance through the use of gene editing technologies, like CRISPR-Cas9. The World Anti-Doping Agency has already promised to ban all gene doping in sports starting this year. It’s possible that in the future athletes will have to submit their genome for testing in order to compete.
Should gene doping be banned? If so, how best can governing bodies regulate the use gene editing technology in sports? What are the legal implications of demanding athletes submit their genomes for testing? What other considerations are there?
These questions and more are being asked by Faculty Fellows Diana Bowman and Andrew Maynard. They were recently awarded funding from ASU’s Global Sports Institute to study gene doping and its potential impact on the future of sports.
What do you think? Put your answer in the comments for a chance to win. Be thorough and cite your sources. We’re excited to read your thoughts