The “Olympic and Paralympic Games” law was approved by Parliament on Wednesday. In addition to the security and monitoring aspect, it regulates the fight against genetic doping, a future issue for equity in sport.
When scientific research is diverted for the benefit of doping. Just over a year from the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the issue of gene doping has been on the front of the table since the start of the year, creating major disagreements within the National Assembly. .
Approved by the National Assembly on Wednesday April 12, the law relating to the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games now allows genetic tests to be carried out on French soil. What is gene doping, how is it detected, and what will the law change? Franceinfo: sport explains to you how gene doping is to be closely monitored.
1 Gene doping, what is it?
Gene doping is a diversion of gene therapy. This method “consists of introducing genetic material into cells to cure a disease”, explain the website of the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm). But this same technique can also make it possible to modify the genome of an athlete, in the form of injecting DNA or messenger RNA into the blood or the muscles, in order to make it more efficient. And thus fall into the doping box.
Gene doping has been monitored since 2002 by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and is on the list of prohibited substances and methods. “The risk exists, says Olivier Rabin, WADA’s science and medicine director, but there have been no cases so far.”
2 How it works ?
If no case has been proven, the procedure to follow is however not so complicated, according to Philippe Moullier, former director of research at Inserm, today European scientific director of the company Askbio, which develops gene therapy drugs. “It is possible to buy a kit on the internet, completely legally, in order to extract and purify the DNA that expresses the factor that you want to have in you for a few days, for example to have more red blood cells (erythropoietin , EPO) or to build muscle strength”, popularizes the specialist.
Then your so-called naked DNA must be introduced into harmless viruses that are made to multiply. “Then you inject the DNA intramuscularly (in the thigh for example), like a vaccination, and it’s done. You can do this in your kitchen or garage, although you would still need a scientist at your side. But a biology undergraduate can do it.”
“It’s a bit like a cooking recipe, confirms Olivier Rabin, aware of this reality of “biohackers”. You can buy the ingredients, and find the information on the internet. But like any recipe, it all depends on how it is done, and to be well done and have a chance of success, you need a minimum of knowledge.”
“Administering a genetic cocktail does not necessarily guarantee success. And the risks are not insignificant, because we do not always control the gene”
Olivier Rabin, WADA Science and Medicine Directorat franceinfo: sport
Although no case of gene doping has been proven so far, the progress of science could make it more and more accessible. “We have seen over the past ten years that we are achieving a mastery of gene therapy which, inevitably, will tempt some people, and particularly in the sports world, with all the risks that this may entail. We want to be ready to that time”, anticipates Oliver Rabbi.
3 Is it more easily detectable than an injection or taking a pill?
Again, the answer is not clear cut. “Naked DNA injected intramuscularly is not going to show up for very long, a week at most. But if the athlete is not caught within that time, it is possible, using technologies that are very sensitive, to d ‘be able to tell the difference between the erythropoietins synthesized from your muscle, and those which are synthesized naturally by the kidney’, deepens Philippe Moullier.
“Often the gene inserts itself into cells and not into their genetic heritage. In this case, the expression is for a few days to a few weeks, and then the cellular machinery causes this plasmid, for example, to disappear”, says Oliver Rabin. But if the genetic manipulation intervenes on the genetic heritage of the individual, in other words whose consequences will remain for life, “this will give us more time to detect it”, affirms again the director of science and medicine of the AMA.
WADA has thus identified around twenty genes which could be of interest to athletes, in order to be able to detect them. “Viruses are often used to increase the efficiency of inserting genes into cells, so we also have methods to detect the immunological profile left by these viruses,” completes Oliver Rabin. Can genetic manipulation therefore pass more easily under the anti-doping radars? “Not necessarily, admet Olivier Rabin. An injection of EPO is easier to perform and will disappear quickly, after about tens of hours, whereas an EPO transgene, which we also know how to detect, will leave traces much longer in the body. body.”
4 What will this law change?
To begin with, Chapter 2 of the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics Act dealing with gene doping was voted on Tuesday, March 28 by the deputies. This text provides that “the laboratory accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency in France” can carry out genetic tests to detect certain forms of doping in athletes (administration of blood, substitution of the samples taken, mutation or genetic manipulation). Initially, the government planned to experiment with it only during the Olympics and make it a milestone. But during the adoption of the text by the Senate on January 31 the latter has chosen to make this tool permanent.
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“We therefore authorize the French anti-doping laboratory to carry out, beyond the usual tests on blood and urine, genetic research through these same samples”, explains Bertrand Sorre, Renaissance MP for the 2nd constituency of La Manche and rapporteur for Chapter 2 of the law. The MP hopes to start this summer.
5 Why does gene doping enter the public debate?
Including this text in French law was above all a way for France to comply with the world anti-doping code. “France is committed to respecting the International Anti-Doping Convention, and therefore the rules of the fight against doping, which are its strength, underlines Valérie Fourneyron, president of the International testing agency (ITA), the body which applies these rules. For that, it had to transpose them into its laws. The rule must be unique and the same everywhere.
“It was also a commitment from France when it applied for the Games to comply with the rules”, supports the rapporteur for the text Bertrand Sorre. Moreover, this is the first time since the creation of the ITA in 2018 that a “National law requires an evolution to be in the nails before the hosting of its Games. We were clearly behind schedule”, notes Valérie Fourneyron.
Not to mention delay, WADA welcomes this progress. “I think that France understood, especially with the arrival of the Rugby World Cup and the Games, that we needed to have legislation much more in support of the anti-doping rules, which are changing very quickly. This will allow us to implement a methodology that was established during the Games in Tokyo and Beijing. It would therefore have been difficult to tell the anti-doping authorities and the athletes that France could not carry out these tests on its soil, and to send the samples elsewhere.”
6 Why did the question of genetic testing tense within the National Assembly?
The chapter on genetic testing created tension in the National Assembly during the vote. First, because the authorization is not limited in time and these tests will be continued in the wake of the adoption of the text. “We could have an experiment that would be evaluated in June 2025”, proposed the communist Stéphane Peu. “We are using an element with significant social acceptability, which are the Olympic Games, to roll back fundamental freedoms”, launched the rebellious Ugo Bernalicis.
Faced with these arguments, the rapporteur for the text Bertrand Sorre intends “these legitimate questions, especially since there is a bioethics law in France which normally excludes these genetic tests”. However, he assures that there will be guarantees. “First of all, these tests will be carried out only if we need to use them. For example, they have been used very little in Beijing and Tokyo, only about thirty times”, justifies the deputy. With regard to the bioethics law voted in 2021, the legislator has been particularly vigilant in preserving the anonymity of the samples.
“An anti-doping laboratory always works anonymously, it is mandatory. It receives a sample with a code, and only one person can make the link between a sample and an identity, it is the doping control authority .”
Olivier Rabin, WADA Science and Medicine Directorat franceinfo: sport
The analysis of gene doping is done on blood samples, already taken for more traditional tests. If no abnormality is found, the sample may be destroyed after three months. “If we have suspicions about an athlete but we are not able to demonstrate it during the first phase of analysis, we can very well keep the samples and redo analyzes later if necessary. The anti-doping samples can be kept for up to ten years, this is the rule, especially for those of the Olympic and Paralympic Games”, emphasizes Olivier Rabin.
Finally, with regard to the athlete’s consent, which has also been put on the table by certain opposition members, there is no need for debate since an athlete who takes part in a competition agrees to made to submit to all types of anti-doping tests.
