Phil Willis looks towards the London Olympics

Sport matters to people, and any scandal associated with British sportsmen or women resonates way beyond the immediate sporting world. An athlete caught enhancing his or her performance by illegal doping methods can be a matter of national humiliation.

With this in mind, the Science and Technology Committee set out to ‘horizon scan’ what may be the human enhancement technologies (HETs) of the next decade, and to examine the UK’s arrangements for countering doping in the run up to and during the 2012 Olympics.(1)

Not in the starting blocks

So, which illegal HETs could threaten the integrity of the 2012 Olympics? As the body directly responsible for anti-doping in the UK, we expected UK Sport to have a good knowledge of these and to be involved in the development of methods to test for them. However, this was not the case. We were concerned to find that in response to our call for evidence to this inquiry, UK Sport had to consult a number of leading experts to identify this information and that it does not ‘horizon scan’ on a regular basis.

A number of witnesses in our inquiry were more informed. For example, we heard that pharmaceuticals of interest in the sporting world may include stimulants which act on the central nervous or cardiovascular systems, perhaps in raising aggression, confidence, or alertness.

Illegal methods

A well-known example of a modern designer drug is Tetrahydrogestronone (THG), an anabolic steroid modified to make it undetectable under normal drug testing. THG was discovered following a major investigation in 2003 which resulted in the British 100-metre sprinter Dwain Chambers, amongst others, receiving a two-year ban.

Hormones may also pose a threat to fair play during the 2012 Olympics. Examples include Human Growth Hormone which can aid recovery from injury, promote strength and burn fat; or glycoprotein hormone erythropoietin (EPO) which regulates red blood cell production and hence the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood.

Blood doping is also thought to be something the testing authorities will need to be vigilant for in 2012. This is the practice of boosting the number of red blood cells in the circulation, usually intravenously, in order to enhance performance in endurance events.

Gene doping, or the modulation of an athlete’s genetic material, is another area of concern. Genes of interest to the sporting world could include those involved in increasing production of naturally occurring substances such as Insulin-like Growth Factor1 which stimulates muscle growth and speeds healing and repair. Other techniques could effectively switch genes on and off as required.

Recommendations

As a Committee, we feel more needs to be done if the UK is to play clean. Science should be used to develop more sophisticated detection techniques, including testing blood samples as well as urine. We also want it to be mandatory for UK athletes to compete internationally in the 12 months prior to the games before they are eligible to take part, as this would make it easier to detect unusual increases in an athlete’s performance.

A separate body needs to be established to undertake drug testing of athletes in this country, independent of UK Sport and the national governing bodies of individual sports. This should also be responsible for monitoring and evaluating potential new substances and methods as they are developed.

The Committee also supports the idea of a pilot project looking at the feasibility of a doping passport. This would be used to record an athlete’s physiological profile over set time points during their career. A four-year ban should be imposed in all incidences where doping has been proven, and there should be a mechanism whereby cheating athletes would have to repay all financial gains going back to their last clean test.

Athletes should also have to disclose sources of doping before they are allowed to return to competitive sport, and we would even urge the government to look at the experience of those countries which have criminalised doping in sport.

Legal techniques

Our inquiry also looked at legal enhancement techniques like nutrition and improving our understanding of the mechanics of movement – methods which can only enhance the healthof the competitor. But the temptation to act illegally will always be there.

It would be a sad moment for sport in the UK if the 2012 Olympic Games were remembered as a major sporting event in which illegal doping detracted from its success. We believe that if the government and sporting bodies concerned act on our recommendations, this can be avoided.

Reference

1. See the parliamentary publication: Human Enhancement Technologies in Sport (PDF)

Phil Willis is Chairman of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee