ABSTRACT
We believe that this new stage of medical research, the medicine of human enhancement, also deserves increased sociological study. We reiterate that there must be reasons beyond the desire for fair play for all of the interest in doping over the past 70 years and the amount of money invested in anti-doping research over the past 30 years. The anti-doping research we have cited is generating fundamental knowledge about the functioning of the human body. There is clearly a transfer of knowledge between elite sport, the military, and the ordinary world. This medical knowledge will help us to understand and treat genetic diseases, diabetes, cancers, cardiac problems, or the ‘grand brûlés’. From the 1960s to the present, this new medicine of human enhancement finds its place in the world of extremes (elite sport, militaries, and space), but it will also benefit the average citizen. Which raises one final question for us: does the deviance of doping by elite sportspeople also produce benefits for the rest of society?
