SaintNik

Most of todays athletes take care of their bodies and work hard to get bigger, stronger, and faster so that they can have and maintain a competitive edge on their rivals and be the best that they can be. Many pump themselves full of vitamins and supplements that are legal and allowed within their sport, and some take substances that are not.

The athlete of the not so distant future may very well have many more options to rely on to acheive results that are today impossible. Science and modern medicine continue to explore ways to find cures and treatment for illness, ailments, and diseases. Many synthetics are created for this purpose but if also taken by an otherwise healthy athlete have the potential to improve that persons abilities. Many discoveries are being made that involve the genetics of the human body. Check out excerpts from the following two articles that may lead to a future athlete that would resemble none of those today.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5278028/?GT1=3584

BOSTON - Somewhere in Germany is a baby Superman, born in Berlin with bulging arm and leg muscles. Not yet 5, he can hold seven-pound weights with arms extended, something many adults cannot do. He has muscles twice the size of other kids his age and half their body fat. DNA testing showed why: The boy has a genetic mutation that boosts muscle growth. Many scientists believe the find could eventually lead to drugs for treating people with muscular dystrophy and other muscle-destroying conditions. And athletes would almost surely want to get their hands on such a drug and use it like steroids to bulk up. The boy’s mutant DNA segment was found to block production of a protein called myostatin that limits muscle growth. Just decreasing this protein by 20, 30, 50 percent can have a profound effect on muscle bulk.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4282866/

SEATTLE - Gene injections in rats can double muscle strength and speed, researchers have found, raising concerns that the virtually undetectable technology could be used illegally to build super athletes. “The things we are developing with diseases in mind could one day be used for genetic enhancement of athletic performance,� Lee Sweeney of the University of Pennsylvania said Monday at the national meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Sports officials said the gene therapy has the potential of betraying the very essence of sport — athletes using their natural talents and training to compete. It would, said Tom Murray of the Hastings Center, a research organization, be like allowing an athlete to compete in the Boston Marathon wearing roller blades. Murray said he “has no doubt athletes will be in touch with Sweeney� when they learn of his research. Sweeney said that already half the e-mails he receives are from athletes or sports trainers. “Performance-enhancing drugs have been a concern in sports and gene therapy has the potential to kick it up a notch,� said Murray, who has studied the issue of doping in athletics. Richard Pound of McGill University and the World Anti-Doping Agency, which controls doping in athletics, said the sports community lost control of drugs for performance-enhancement in the 1960s to 1990s and “we’ve been playing catch-up ever since.�Now gene therapy looms as an even more serious threat, he said. If a normal person would inject this, their muscles would get stronger without them doing anything,� said Sweeney. “If they are athletes in training, training would be much more effective, injury would be overcome more easily and the effect of the training would last a much longer time.� Unlike performance-enhancing drugs, Sweeney said the gene therapy could not be detected by blood or urine tests. He said it would require a biopsy of specific muscles followed by a sophisticated DNA laboratory study to detect the use of gene therapy in an athlete.

JKool

Very interesting post SaintNik! I\'ve been following these stories a bit too.

Another interesting possibility is gene-therapy. It may be possible to use this mutation to increase muscle growth in \"normal\" people. Thus, we coud increase healing times for serious muscle injuries and so on.

On the whole, pretty fascinating.

Euphoria

I think I am getting where this is going... we can set up a super-human farm and breed Saint players... we raise them in like Terrebonne parrish somewheres. There main function is to play football for the Saints and thats it there only purpose. After there prime I guess we can put them out to the pasture.

SaintNik

Quote
\"Unlike performance-enhancing drugs, Sweeney said the gene therapy could not be detected by blood or urine tests. He said it would require a biopsy of specific muscles followed by a sophisticated DNA laboratory study to detect the use of gene therapy in an athlete. \"

What I am saying is that some people including parents with their children, take an at all costs approach in attempting to become a better athlete. Many are loading up on supplements and juice at an early age. As, newer more sophisticated enhancers, that are virtually undetectable become available, the percentage of athletes of all ages will only increase.

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