Would this happen soon?

Four recent news articles string into a follow-up story.

  • New York Times reported that Marion Jones will be sentenced for 6 months for lying. She took performance enhancement drugs at 2000 Olympic competition.
  • International Herald Tributes reported that IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations, the top organization to govern track and field competitions) ruled Oscar Pistorius ineligible for Olympics. Mr. Pistorius is a double amputee. When he competes in 100 meter sprint, he attaches two Cheetah blades. IAAF clearly believes those blades gave him unfair and artificial advantages over other athelets.

    Personally, I think Mr. Pistorius is pretty inspiring.
  • ABC reported a new protocol to treat dogs with damaged joints. The vet extracts the stem cells from the same dog, cultivates them into larger quantities, then injects the concentrated cells into the damaged joint. Few weeks later, the previously limping and inactive dog will be bouncing around like puppies.
  • Lastly, New York Times reported that a research lab has grown a rat heart from adult stem cells. The lab first washed out every muscle tissues from the damaged heart, leaving only the blood vessels, nerves, etc. Then they use the stem cells to grow them back. The result is a pumping, healthy rat heart ready to be implanted.

Do performance enhancement drugs relevant when genetic engineering is thriving? If Mr. Pistorius’s legs gave him unfair advantages, what about his new heart or increased muscle, not from steroid, but from his own stem cells?

Some years from now, when I am old and frail, should I find a doctor to give me a new lease of life or wither away like all my ancestors did? The most scary part of this question is its possibility. I can feel these technologies coming and these questions will become real.

You get the story? Are we ready?

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