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media from naming any suspect food product until a "clear verdict" has been reached by the authorities. There are to be no exposés of
safety problems concerning famous Chinese food brands or food products for export without official approval. For imported food,
approval must come from Beijing. If it causes poisoning, only Xinhua, the official news agency, may break the news and even its
reports must be approved by the Propaganda Department and the foreign ministry.
Fu Jianfeng, an editor at
Southern Weekend
newspaper in Guangdong province, wrote on his blog that one of his reporters heard
about the milk story in July. But the newspaper could not investigate, he said, because of demands for "harmony" before the games.
The blog entry has since been deleted.
T a s k O n e. Make up questions covering the subject matter of the article.
T a s k T w o. Write a review on the article.
A R T I C L E 4. Fairly safe.
Jul. 31
st
2008
From
The Economist
print edition
What athletes may or may not do ought to be decided on grounds of safety, not fairness
ANOTHER Olympics, another doping debate. And this time it is a fervent one, as recent advances in medical science have had
the side-effect of providing athletes with new ways of enhancing performance, and thus of putting an even greater strain on people’s
ethical sensibilities.
This is especially true of gene therapy. Replacing defective genes holds out great promise for people suffering from diseases
such as muscular dystrophy and cancer. But administered to sprightly sportsmen, the treatment may allow them to heave greater
weights, swim faster and jump farther. And that would be cheating, wouldn’t it?
Two notions are advanced against doping in sport: safety and fairness. The first makes sense, the second less so – particularly
when it comes to gene therapy. For instance, some people have innate genetic mutations which give them exactly the same sort of
edge. Eero Mantyranta, a Finn, was a double Olympic champion in cross-country skiing. His body has a mutation that causes it to
produce far more of a hormone called EPO than a normal person would. This hormone stimulates the production of red blood cells.
A synthetic version of it is the (banned) drug of choice for endurance athletes.
Mr Mantyranta was allowed to compete because his advantage was held to be a "natural" gift. Yet the question of what is natural is
no less vexed than that of what is fair. What is natural about electric muscle stimulation? Or nibbling on nutrients that have been cooked
up by chemists? Or sprinting in special shoes made of springy carbon fibre? Statistically speaking, today’s athletes are unlikely to be any
more naturally gifted than their forebears, but records continue to fall. Nature is clearly getting a boost from somewhere.
Given that so much unnatural tampering takes place, the onus is surely on those who want to ban doping (genetic or otherwise)
to prove that it is unusually unfair. Some point out, for instance, that it would help big, rich countries that have better access to the
technology. But that already happens: just compare the training facilities available to the minuscule Solomon Islands squad alongside
those of mighty Team America. In druggy sports it may narrow the gap. One condition of greater freedom would be to enforce
transparency: athletes should disclose all the pills they take, just as they register the other forms of equipment they use, so that others
can catch up.
The gene genie is already out of the bottle
From this perspective, the sole concern when it comes to enhancing athletic performance should be: is it safe for the athletes?
Safety is easier to measure than fairness: doctors and scientists adjudicate on such matters all the time. If gene doping proves
dangerous, it can be banned. But even then, care should be exercised before a judgment is reached.
Many athletes seem perfectly willing to bear the risks of long-term effects on their health as a result of their vocations. Aged
Muhammad Ali’s trembling hands, for example, are a direct result of a condition tellingly named
dementia pugilistica
. Sport has
always been about sacrifice and commitment. People do not admire Mr Mantyranta because he had the luck of the genetic draw. They
admire him for what he achieved with his luck. Why should others be denied the chance to remedy that deficiency?
T a s k O n e. Answer the following questions.
1. What is true of gene therapy?
2. What are the two notions of doping debates?
3. Why are today’s athletes unlikely to be any more naturally gifted than their forebears?
4. Why must doping be banned?
5. What proves that The gene genie is already out of the bottle?
T a s k T w o. Write a brief summary of the article.
A R T I C L E 5. Genetically Modified Olympians?
Jul. 31
st
2008
From
The Economist
print edition
On the eve of the Beijing Olympics, we examine the prospect of athletes using gene therapy to enhance their performance–and
of catching them if they try
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