Health Law Society lecture ties law, medicine, ethics and sports
In his recent lunchtime lecture, “Doping, Enhancement and the Philosophy of Sports,” sponsored by the Health Law Society, Professor Dr. Alex Mauron of the Institute for Biomedical Ethics revealed the complexities of a hot button issue that involves business, medicine, ethics and the law.
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| Dr. Alex Mauron |
Mauron discussed the matter of performance enhancing drugs, referred to as “doping,” in the scope of the sports industry and its “normative environment,” including the arguments for and against its prevalence.
“The argument against doping cannot define precisely the border between what is doping and what is not doping,” said Mauron, highlighting the flaws within the legal side of the issue. “The problem I think is that anti-doping policies have a hard time defining precisely the limit between what is acceptable and what is not."
Currently considered unacceptable, Mauron cited the two main reasons most forms of doping are illegal in sports: the health impacts and that it is against the “spirit of sports.”
“Doping represents an undeserved short cut towards victory that substitutes undeserved facility where one expects meritorious effort and excellence. It damages the so-called ‘level playing field.’ That is against the spirit of sports,” explained Mauron.
However, illegalizing doping also has its drawbacks, including infringement on privacy, increased pressure on athletes and heightened criminal consequences. Mauron claims stringent laws can result in what he calls “two antagonist cultures.”
“The war on doping is presented like an all important moral crusade that is immune against criticism, and yet you hear the voices of athletes who feel increasingly alienated by these policies,” said Mauron, who told the tragic stories of two professional athletes, one driven to depression and the other to suicide due to the policies.
As a solution, Mauron discussed the circumstances in which doping would be acceptable in sports. He believes that nothing about the overall ideology of today’s professional sports makes doping unacceptable.
“Why is doping singled out?” Mauron asked. “After all, training in high level sports today has nothing in common with the initial ideals of athletics… Training today in high level sports maintains a managerial relationship to one’s own body – a sophisticated winning machine.”
Mauron proposed a new era of sports, in which safe doping is allowed while maintaining fairness and competition of the games by creating two leagues – one “organic” and doping-free, the other “genetically-modified” and enhanced athletes.
“In that managerial attitude towards the body, my claim is that doping actually comes up very naturally,” said Mauron. “If the purpose is to increase performance at all costs, why not through doping?”
-By Melissa Zonne
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