The idea of a perfectly undetectable method of doping is simple: you need to stimulate production of EPO (or any other substance) outside of blood cells (which is not a problem at all) to make the extra copy of EPO gene undetectable via blood test (taking samples from solid tissues such as muscles would jeopardize athletes’ performance and is therefore unacceptable). What is more, there’s a lot of ready-to-use genetic systems which allow precise adjustments of gene’s activity (which means you can easily adjust the amount of circulating EPO).

As I said, technically it is not a problem today and it only takes a person stupid enough to try this out. Sad – or even VERY sad – but true. And what is even worse, I don’t even feel like I make it easier for potential dopers – the idea is so simple that anyone working in a genetic/biotechnological lab could tell you this.

The essence of gene therapy is not the EPO hormone itself, but augmenting the ‘gene’ that produces it, to make more.
It’s been possible to put a gene into a virus, a disabled virus that acts as a kind of a moving van to put that gene into cells- therefore multiplying the effect. That material was intended to treat people with chronic kidney disease and with cancers, for people who are unable to make good amounts of red blood cells themselves.
Rumors have been floating around for years since research scientists started working on it. Gene therapy even raised it’s mysterious head back at the 2000 Olympics, when the US swim team head coach blindly accused the Australian government and Swimming Australia of using genetic manipulation and HGH on Ian Thorpe as a child .

Hype or reality- we don’t know currently if Gene augmentation has actually evolved to the point where it is being abused by any real athletes, but it’s quite clear that the world of sport is very much aware of what’s going on in gene therapy. BikePure will keep you up to date.

This post was mentioned on Twitter by scotteek: great read, great cause to fight for , check them out RT @BikePure: Is Gene Doping the Next Sports Scandal? http://is.gd/7XwXe...