This kind of gene therapy could transform the lives of the elderly and people with muscular dystrophy. Unfortunately, it is also a dream come true for an athlete bent on doping. The chemicals are indistinguishable from their natural counterparts and are only generated locally in the muscle tissue. Nothing enters the bloodstream, so officials will have nothing to detect in a blood or urine test. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has already asked scientists to help find ways to prevent gene therapy from becoming the newest means of doping. But as these treatments enter clinical trials and, eventually, widespread use, preventing athletes from gaining access to them could become impossible.
Is gene therapy going to form the basis of high-tech cheating in athletics? It is certainly possible. Will there be a time when gene therapy becomes so commonplace for disease that manipulating genes to enhance performance will become universally accepted? Perhaps. Either way, the world may be about to watch one of its last Olympic Games without genetically enhanced athletes.
For more details about the technique, the risks, and the medical possibilities (good and bad), read the Scientific American article.