In a provocative analysis of sport ethics and human values, Genetically Modified Athletes imagines the brave new world of sport. The internationally acclaimed book examines this issue at a crucial time in its theorisation, questioning the very cornerstone of sporting and medical ethics, asking whether sporting authorities can, or even should, protect sport from genetic modification.

This book brings together sport studies and bioethics to challenge our understanding of the values that define sport. We already allow that athletes can optimise their performance by the use of technologies; without wishing to assert that 'anything goes' in sports performance enhancement, Andy Miah argues that simply being human matters in sport and that genetic modification does not have to challenge this capacity.

Genetically Modifies Athletes includes examination of:

* the concept of 'good sport' and the definition of cheating
* the doped athlete - should we be more sympathetic?
* the role of the medical industry
* the usefulness (or not) of the terms 'doping' and 'anti-doping'.

An important and growing field of interest, this book should be read by students, academics and practitioners.

Reviews

'Always scholarly and well researched, this book had me turning pages at the rate I normally reserve for a good novel ... This book not only added to my knowledge... but it also changed some of my attitudes to doping in sport and genetical modification ... [Miah's] book should be compulsory reading on all Sports Medicine courses because it will promote debate, challenge consensus and make people think.' - Professor Andy Smith, BASEM Today

'Genetically Modified Athletes provides a comprehensive analysis of how genetic technology will be used to enhance sports performance, and how our existing framework for dealing with the problem of sports doping is inadequate on both practical and ethical grounds.' - Francis Fukuyama, Johns Hopkins University

'This extremely interesting book is a must for everyone who takes the ethics in sports seriously. In other words, it is compulsory reading for anyone interested in the future of the athletes and the sports in the forthcoming 'era' of genetically engineered sports person.' - Journal of Sports Science and Medicine

'Genectically Modified Athletes is a book of great importance to both athletes and the greater society ... [it] sheds new light on emerging technologies that could change the face (and bodies) of humans and their behaviour as we know it.' - Yale Journal of Public Health

'[This book] can be highly recommended to readers interested in doping, anti-doping policies in sport, but first and foremost bioethics.' - Inge Kryger Pedersen, Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports

'[Miah] contemplates the nature of human enhancement in a context that makes the major issues clear, whilst avoiding the negativity associated with the term eugenics.'
'[Miah] articulates a clear response to criticisms of enhancement technologies, and strives to place the discussion in a clear conceptual framework to provide the opportunity for genuine ethical discussion.' - both Anthony Mark Cutter, Genomics, Society and Policy Online Review, 2005

'Miah's book is a thought-provoking read that raises important questions about sport and society. It is a truly boundary-crossing piece of work, one within which students and scholars in a number of disciplines, from sociology and law to sports studies, will find much material to mine.' - Guy Osborn, Times Higher Educational Supplement, August 2005

'The reader will find extensive information regarding the debate on anti-doping and performance enhancement, and also on philosophical underpinnings of anti-doping policy, beyond the specific, ethical reasons...' -Dorin Festeau, European Sport Management Quarterly, March 2005

'Genetically Modified Athletes...will play a vital role in future debates regarding both the ethics of genetic manipulation and, more generally, of doping and performance enhancement. The book should be read and considered carefully by scholars in sports studies, bioethicists, sport-policy makes, coaches, administrators, journalists and, perhaps most importantly, athletes.' Ian Ritchie, Sociology of Sport Journal, No. 22, 2005

'Always scholarly and well researched, this book had me turning pages at the rate I normally reserve for a good novel ... This book not only added to my knowledge ... but it also changed some of my attitudes to doping in sport and genetical modification ... [Miah's] book should be compulsory reading on all Sports Medicine courses because it will promote debate, challenge consensus and make people think.' - Professor Andy Smith, BASEM Today

'Miah's book is a thought-provoking read that raises important questions about sport and society. It is a truly boundary-crossing piece of work, one within which students and scholars in a number of disciplines, from sociology and law to sports studies, will find much material to mine.' - Guy Osborn, Times Higher Educational Supplement, August 2005

'Genetically Modified Athletes ... will play a vital role in future debates regarding both the ethics of genetic manipulation and, more generally, of doping and performance enhancement. The book should be read and considered carefully by scholars in sports studies, bioethicists, sport-policy makes, coaches, administrators, journalists and, perhaps most importantly, athletes.' Ian Ritchie, Sociology of Sport Journal, No. 22, 2005

Book Information
ISBN 9780415298803
Author Andy Miah
Format Paperback
Page Count 228
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 420g