ho chi feen
25-04-2008, 08:42 PM
I wonder who this might have been.
Club attempts to recruit scientist as 12th man
Matt Scott (http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/mattscott)
The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian),
Friday April 25 2008An unnamed football club have approached a leading sports scientist in an effort to apply genetic research to their players. It is the first known instance of football exploring genetics in order to gain sporting advantage.
According to Aberdeen University's Dr Henning Wackerhage, the club were seeking to gain "an edge" by attempting to discern through a genetic test their players' suitability for sprinting. They hoped to discover whether the players had been born with the ACTN3 gene that is common to all top-class sprinters.
However, the club's intention to use the test results in team selections is opposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency, which stated in 2005: "The use of genetic information to select for or discriminate against athletes should be strongly discouraged."
Wackerhage - who refused to identify the club - informed them that Wada's ethical stance should be binding, telling them he would not carry out the test. "My advice was that there are questions of legality, with an employer doing genetic tests on its employees," said Wackerhage, who has other ethical concerns over the collection of genetic data, noting that it could be difficult to maintain confidentiality of test results for high-profile athletes.
The test is commercially available in Australia and it is unknown whether the club pursued the procedure there.
Club attempts to recruit scientist as 12th man
Matt Scott (http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/mattscott)
The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian),
Friday April 25 2008An unnamed football club have approached a leading sports scientist in an effort to apply genetic research to their players. It is the first known instance of football exploring genetics in order to gain sporting advantage.
According to Aberdeen University's Dr Henning Wackerhage, the club were seeking to gain "an edge" by attempting to discern through a genetic test their players' suitability for sprinting. They hoped to discover whether the players had been born with the ACTN3 gene that is common to all top-class sprinters.
However, the club's intention to use the test results in team selections is opposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency, which stated in 2005: "The use of genetic information to select for or discriminate against athletes should be strongly discouraged."
Wackerhage - who refused to identify the club - informed them that Wada's ethical stance should be binding, telling them he would not carry out the test. "My advice was that there are questions of legality, with an employer doing genetic tests on its employees," said Wackerhage, who has other ethical concerns over the collection of genetic data, noting that it could be difficult to maintain confidentiality of test results for high-profile athletes.
The test is commercially available in Australia and it is unknown whether the club pursued the procedure there.