Abolishing the use of pro-enhancement drugs in sports: - Research Paper Example

? Abolishing the use of pro-enhancement drugs in sports: Introduction Athletics is one of the longest serving fields of entertainment in the world alongside other sporting activities such as football, theatre arts, swimming, and music among others. Athletics, like football, and rugby is among those games that require a lot of energy for participation. This therefore implies that athletes have to keep fit through rigorous training and being on well prescribed and consistent diet at all times. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect, the athlete just like the footballers and other participants in various games have to keep on practicing in order to enhance their ability and expertise in their performances. Good and highly performing athletes are those that reside and practice in high altitude regions of the world. This is because athletes require a lot of oxygen for respiration hence the need to have much of the red blood cells within their bodies to carry, transport and distribute the oxygen needed to produce enough energy in their bodies to be used during the period of the races, either short or long races (Anderson, Schjerling, & Saltin, 2000). This high altitude requirement must always be accompanied with a well balanced diet with relatively high amounts of food rich in carbohydrate for energy supplementation. However, the athletics field has been highly affected, misused and abused by certain athletes who use drugs to boost their performances during the period of competition. These drugs, known as the performance enhancement drugs contributes in creating a super human capable of excellently performing under unexpected conditions. These drugs always create an extraordinary artificial person in the field, contrary to what the persons using them can do in ordinary situations when not under the influence of the drugs, making the competitions more dilute and meaningless rather than ordinary (Elizabeth & Barton, 1998). This paper will examine the negative effects of using the pro- performance drugs and genetic doping in athletics with a view to oppose the idea based on the social, health and ethical side effects associated with the use of these drugs. The use of performance enhancement drugs in the sporting world has recorded a tremendous increase over the years in many sporting disciplines. More than not, the urge to use these drugs is largely a factor of winning, while other emerging studies allude that this desire goes past the need to win but also for the athletes to cheat their way into the sporting arena. These drugs often come in a variety of forms including pill, cream, and other forms that make these drugs appealing to the athletes and easy to use. It is also worth recognizing that while some athletes get away with drug use, there are also cases of others ending up in jail while at the extreme points some die prematurely due to the effects of these drugs. Above all, the topic of performance enhancing drugs seems to be a complex issue within the sporting arena that more often than not comes to the public image. The use of drugs within the athletics environment began rising around 1960s as a desire by the athletes to take up any preparation for their winning. A report by Harding Luke in “Guardian” (2005), suggests that anabolic-androgenic steroids were availed for sale during this time and East German governments as well started availing these drugs to their athletes to excel in international competitions. Overall, the use of performance enhancement drugs in athletes were mostly for increasing the strength of their muscles, adjust oxygen going to the tissues, alleviate pain, body stimulation, for relaxation or cut on weight. The three main reasons opposing the use of pro- enhancement drugs in the field by athletes have been highlighted in this report. The first reason is based on the social effects these athletes may impose on the young and innocent children who always consider them their role models. We currently live in a world that has been brought closer and compacted by the use of technology such that whatever happens anywhere in the world can be easily transmitted through satellite transmissions to all people around the globe. Garry argues that an athlete known to be under the influence of these drugs winning any race and receiving huge lumps of presents alongside being showered with praises from people all over the world earn himself or herself fame across the globe is usually seen and admired by the young children back at home (Garry, 2004). These innocent children will then start using these drugs in order to boost their performances in various games played back at home. The question of accessibility of these drugs among children is however out of the topic as these can move nearer to anyone’s vicinity irrespective of the person concerned. Early use of these drugs among children will then lead to the inability to quit them when these children grow older. This may in turn result in the abuse of other drugs such as cocaine, marijuana, and heroin alongside these drugs creating a society of drug addicts (Taylor & Francis, 2004).The question of ethics and the erosion of the society’s social dimension then set in. Besides, competitions are meant to test how well a person can use his or her talent in various fields helping him/herself and the community at large. Using drugs to boost one’s performance in such competitions only take away the ordinary competitions and the ability to build one’s talents to a state where machine- like humans, scientifically controlled dominate the field of athletics thus making athletics more artificial rather than ordinary. According to Sammy (2004), doping as well serves the same function in humans creating an extraordinary person in the field to compete against a normal human being. Athletics will therefore not be based on who can use his or her talent well but one who can develop the best genetically doped athlete or which athlete can consume the largest amount of PEDs (Performance Enhancement Drugs). The use of PEDs and doping has also long-term influences on a person’s health. The doping process permanently interferes with the doped person’s genetic composition while PEDs pose long-term health problems on the people who use them over a long period. Besides, those using these drugs may also use other health hazardous drugs due to their addiction to drugs. This may expose them to further dangers in the process of wanting to perform in the field. PEDs should therefore be rated together with other illegal drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and strict laws enacted against their use. Doping as well is unethical and is an abuse to the nature of man seen in the creation process. (Sukho et al, 2004) In conclusion, both doping and the use of performance enhancement drugs should not be recommended in athletics in order to create a fair competition in the field for those who cannot afford these drugs but have the talents which they can use to entertain other people and earn a living from. Further, the use of performance enhancement drugs should be abandoned due to the many side effects associated with their use both at the individual athlete level but also to the community. Instead more natural performance enhancement practices should be employed, these include among others high altitude training to boost the athletes’ red blood cells and the amount of oxygen required to run. References Anderson, J. L., Schjerling, P., & Saltin, B. (2000, September). Muscle, Genes and Athletic performance. Towards molecular Talent , 283 (3), pp. 48- 55. Elizabeth, R., & Barton, D. (1998, December 22). Expression of Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 Blocks the Aging- Related Loss of Skeletal Muscle Function. The National Academy of Sciences USA , 95 (26), pp. 15603- 15607. Garry, T. (2004, March). Building the Elite Athlete. The Scientific America , 96 (3), pp. 1097 1104. Harding, L. (2005, November 1). Forgotten Victims of East German doping take their battle to court. Retrieved November 17, 2012, from The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2005/nov/01/athletics.gdnsport3 Sukho, L. et al. (2004). Expression of insulin- like growth factor-1 enhances Muscle Hypertrophy. Applied Physiology , 96 (5), 689- 721. Taylor, D., & Francis, L. (2004). Bioethics, genetic modification, sports and science. (A. Miah, Ed.) Genetically Modified athletes: Biomedical Ethics , 197 (3), 200- 232. Read More