The Rise Of Performance-Enhancing Drugs: To Legalize Or Not? - Essay Sample

Introduction

The use of performance-enhancing drugs is on the rise, and the practice is being condemned by many while others feel that the procedure should be legalized. The existence of gene therapy is making it difficult to curb the process, and their existence demands for people to decide what they want in sports. There is a great need to decide whether people want to enjoy the display of competitiveness that is gained through hard work, or they will be willing to watch victory that is realized at all costs irrespective of whether the athletes are using illegal substances or not. It is crucial to ensure that there is fairness in sports, and emphasis should be placed on the way that a player wins a game. The athletes that are relying on technology tools tend to have an unfair advantage over their rivals, and this diminishes the competitiveness in sports. The element of fair play is eliminated, and there is a need to ensure that the use of biotechnology tools in sports is banned all together.

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Studies are being undertaken on the way that human beings’ genetic code can be manipulated to ensure that athletes have strong muscles or they manage to have a high level of endurance while they in the field. The players tend to get injections that have proteins that stimulate body growth. It is argued that when exercises are combined with manipulated genes, athletes are likely to have strong muscles (McCradden, & Cusimano, 2018). These procedures are good news to the persons that suffer from muscle problems, and when used by players, they are highly likely to break records, but this will be at a cost on the integrity of the game. Various regulatory bodies, such as the International Olympic Committee’s World Anti-Doping Agency, are getting concerned by the rising cases of athletes doping and they are introducing stringent measures to help curb the vice. These entities are introducing policies that make it a requirement for players to be tested before and after a game to determine if they are engaging in the doping process.

There exist bioethicists that beliefs that the wave of biotechnological tools that will be available shortly will not be avoidable, and players should be allowed to use them. They claim that athletes should desire to achieve their goals through whichever means they deem necessary, and the issue of genetic modification is an indication of the way that sports are working. They condemn the “journalism youngsters,” who tend to use too much of elements that they do not have a better understanding of the way that they work. They claim that the negative image that these steroids are getting results from their wrongful use by persons that do not know how to control their use and the right quantity that their bodies can take (Mehlman, 2019). They claim that the steroid should not be used in high schools, but they can be utilized at professional levels when used under the guidance of a health care provider.

It is enjoyable to have extraordinary performances that are beyond the capabilities of a normal human being in the world. These statements are an indication of the way the world has changed with the emphasis being placed on new achievements irrespective of the way that they are realized. The worrying issue in the present world is that achievement in the current world is realized by relying on technological interventions and not merely hard work.

The reliance on the latest equipment in the sporting events has led to registering of records previously not achievable though they are required to train despite the inclusion of illegal substances in their competing process. There exists a significant difference between the utilization of drugs, equipment that are state-of-the-art, and body modification. The players that are relying on drugs causes an alteration in their bodies, and when they set new records, spectators lack an opportunity to witness sports achievements that are based on human efforts (Frías, 2018). The issue eliminates the concept of fairness and the enjoyment derived from winning in the right way.

In sports, all the players must be in the same conditions to ensure that there is fairness, and winning should be based on an individual’s ability to grind out results while they have not doped. They should utilize similar equipment, and the governing body should ensure that all the rules are applied equally. Violating the rules used in games deprives players and spectators of a chance to enjoy a game based on the commitment and efforts of participating teams. When an athlete tests positive to the use of steroids, the training taken by the competitors is devalued, for they are denied an opportunity to compete on a fairground. Sports will be damaged when the doping issues are allowed amongst the players. It will no longer be necessary to watch the athletes as they compete, considering that the ones that have taken the highest amount of these illegal substances will win. It is critical to note that the drugs tend to have long-term adverse effects on a human body (Loland, 2018). In addition to leading to unfairness in the field, a player is likely to experience body problems in future, and this will outdo the gains made in the field.

Some of the health repercussions that can result from the continued use of the steroid elements include issues adversely affecting the reproduction, endocrine, and liver systems. Their use creates confusion at the sporting events, considering that some of the persons states that they should be utilized under the guidance of a physician. It is challenging to draw a line on when these biotechnological tools should be implemented and when they shroud be avoided. However, to ensure that confusion is eliminated, it is important to avoid these enhancing drugs totally, and only allow the athletes that are relying on their natural body to compete. The players found to have won by relying on them should be banned for life, and their medals withdrawn for these are some of the measures that can help in cleaning sporting activities (Reid, 2018). The move will ensure that all players are adhering to the right measures stipulated by the sports governing bodies. Therefore, it is important to ensure that competing is done on a fairground, all the participants are free from doping issues, and this will guarantee them a healthy body and enjoyment from the sporting event.

Unless the sporting bodies may have plans to introduce different sporting activities where the doping players have their games where they compete together and the athletes depending on their natural body, then these biotechnologies should be stopped. The best way to compete is to ensure that players are relying on their hard work, skills, and commitment to win games. Spectators should be provided with a platform to enjoy the happenings in the field, and they can only do so when there is fairness in the games.

References

Frías, F. J. L. (2018). The use of performance-enhancing technologies in sports through Nicolas Agar’s “truly human enhancement” approach. Performance Enhancement & Health, 6(2), 44-52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.peh.2018.04.001

Loland, S. (2018). Performance-enhancing drugs, sport, and the ideal of natural athletic performance. The American Journal of Bioethics, 18(6), 8-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2018.1459934

McCradden, M. D., & Cusimano, M. D. (2018). Optimized or hijacked? The moral boundaries of natural athletic performance. The American Journal of Bioethics, 18(6), 26-28. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2018.1459947

Mehlman, M. (2019). Bioethics of military performance enhancement. Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps, 165(4), 226-231. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jramc-2018-001130

Reid, H. L. (2018). Responsibility, inefficiency, and the spirit of sport. American Journal of Bioethics, 18(6), 22-23. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2018.1459951