Ethics Paper: Performance Enhancement Substances

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3 word format

document in english

sports

school essay

date published 13/11/2007

review : not yet assessed

level : General public

requested 3 times

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Summary

Athletes voluntarily agree to partake in sporting competitions. These contests require opponents to promise to play the game, at the same time, and under the same conditions.7 Performance enhancement substance use is a core ethical issue in sports today. Some athletes feel the use of steroids and other substances violate the equal conditions requirement for sport as well as good sportsmanship conduct, due to the unnatural enhancement they provide. Others feel due to the ubiquity of the drugs they are fair game and see no ethical infraction of equal conditions or sportsmanship by using them to enhance performance.

Table of Contents

Those opposed to the use of performance enhancers feel they provide one party with an unnatural advantage over the other which breaches the equality of conditions.
Three methods are listed as prohibited chemical and physical manipulation, gene doping, and most notably enhancement of oxygen transfer.
Steroids are becoming easily detectable by drug tests and many have been replaced with their tweaked counterparts termed, 'designer' steroids.
Erythropoietin (EPO) is a common protein hormone used in blood doping today.
A common argument against performance enhancers is that they provide an advantage over other athletes and are not internationally available at the same quality.
Another common argument is the ethical differences in the common methods of enhancement such as increasing endurance capabilities and increasing muscle mass.
Extrinsic and innate inequalities exist to benefit certain athletes making the playing field unfair regardless of the use of performance enhancing substances.
Both sides offer interesting viewpoints on this ethical issue. It is a conflict of personal morals and ideals.