Cycling's "fix"

TY - JOUR

T1 - Cycling's "fix"

AU - Fouché, Rayvon

N1 - Funding Information: Fouché Rayvon University of Illinois 02 2009 33 1 97 99 sagemeta-type Other search-text 97 ViewCycling's “Fix” SAGE Publications, Inc.200910.1177/0193723508329192 RayvonFouché University of Illinois Cycling is under pressure. Over the past decade, cycling has become a global cen- terpiece of the pharmaceutically driven sport. The autumnal transition from road cycling to cyclocross has come none too soon for a sport percolating with tensions. From the confrontation between the Amaury Sports Organization (ASO) and the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) over the control of races to the high-profile rev- elation during the Tour de France—that the third generation of erythropoietin (EPO), Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator (CERA) had emerged as the new drug of choice—most invested in cycling are happy to see the off-season arrive. The 2008 racing season began with great hope that the UCI, the governing body of cycling, would be able to guide, direct, and control the future evolution of cycling with a new technological instrument, the biological passport (Union Cycliste Internationale, 2007). By the end of the Tour de France, most would agree that the biological passport was a long way from maturity. Naming the instrument a passport conjures a host of images about cosmopolitan travel, citizenship, and transport. It taps into traditional representations of necessary stamps of approval from a govern- mental body. This biological passport would govern which physical bodies have access to the sport of cycling. The biological passport as a scientific and technolog- ical instrument becomes a proxy to enforce the UCI's control over riders and protect its interests. Anne Gripper, the antidoping manager of the UCI, describes the biological passport as a series of tests that enable us to make a determination as to the likelihood of doping based on that rider's individual profile. So rather than comparing one single sample to a population norm, we're comparing a range of samples to an athlete's expected pro- file. So it gives us a lot greater sensitivity, enabling us to determine that this rider is likely to be doing something that manipulates their blood, or likely to be doing some- thing that relates to steroid use. (Wilcockson, 2007) She acknowledges that the passport creates a biological profile that can assist in determining guilt or innocence. She concludes that the UCI may not actually be able to say what it is, whether it's autologous blood transfusions or micro-dosing with EPO, but what it will show is that this rider is highly likely to have been doing something illegal. So it's a whole new approach; it's using that forensic approach, assessing evidence to the point where you believe you've got a quality set of data that can take us to the use or attempted use into doping. (Wilcockson, 2007) 98 The UCI introduced the passport at the beginning of the 2008 season, and the 18 ProTour cycling teams begrudgingly complied. The biological passport and the number of doping cases have moved the enforcement location of clean athletic per- formance deeper into the scientific laboratory. The processes by which clean perfor- mance is determined is getting increasingly black boxed by the technological sophistication of the diagnostic tools and instruments and the breadth of scientific knowledge required to interpret these samples, observations, and data. For decades, my home discipline of science and technology studies has shown that the production of scientific knowledge and technological instruments is a social process embedded within an ever-changing network of cultural interactions (Hacket, Amsterdamska, Lynch, & Wajcman, 2007). Drawing from this scholarly tradition, the ideas of getting a better, truthful, or more authentic athletic performance by increasing the scientific and technological oversight seem fraught with problems. This scholarship has championed the social construction of scientific knowledge and technological artifacts by exposing the social and cultural nature of scientific and technological work. Unfortunately, this is the same approach used by those accused of committing various offenses. Often the first response to a positive drug test is that the science/scientist or the instrument is wrong. The goal of showing the contingent nature of science and technology may have produced the idea that reality does not exist and truth is always negotiable. This is an important scholarly project, but it has troubling ramifications for sport. Thus, how do we find a middle ground between realism and relativism to understand, evaluate, and critique athletic performances mediated by new and emerging science and technology? After receiving approval from the European Commission and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2007, Roche Pharmaceuticals began marketing their CERA drug (methoxy polyethylene glycol-epoetin beta injection) for the treatment of ane- mia associated with chronic kidney disease under the trade name Mircera early in 2008. In clinical tests, this longer lasting form of the famed erythropoietic-stimulating agents, or commonly known as EPO, has proven to produce a more stable increase in red blood cells. The primary chemical difference between CERA and EPO is the addition of polyethylene glycol. Clearly a longer lasting form of EPO would be attractive to endurance athletes. The rumor was that the increased molecular mass would make the drug undetectable in urine. Yet, as positive tests from Riccardo Riccò Leonardo Piepoli and others in the Tour de France would indicate, that belief was far from accurate. Arguably the L'Agence Française de Lutte contre le Dopage (AFLD) succeeded in catching this transgression by selectively targeting athletes with questionable blood values during prerace screening, but more specifically through the use of a new urine test for Mircera, developed in cooperation with Roche Pharmaceuticals (U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Drug and Evaluation and Research, 2007). As temporarily successful as this intervention turned out, the idea that a scientific or technological “fix” will solve a social and cultural problem is misguided. In fact, 99 this fix often precipitates another network of problems. The increased scrutinization of the body and the biological has the potential to produce more clarity, but it may also muddy the waters. CERA clearly exemplifies this dilemma. As cycling uncom- fortably awaits the full-scale returns of Lance Armstrong, Ivan Basso, and Floyd Landis, the year 2009 will undoubtedly be another season fraught with tension. Unfortunately, it appears in the near future that cycling will be as much about tests of human endurance and performance as it will be about testing the efficacy of sci- entific knowledge, diagnostic protocols, and technological instruments. References Hackett, E. J., Amsterdamska, O., Lynch, M., & Wajcman, J. (Eds.). (2007). The handbook of science and technology studies (3rd ed.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press . Union Cycliste International. (2007, December 21). Information on the biological passport. Retrieved November 2, 2008, from http://www.uci.ch/Modules/ENews/ENewsDetails.asp?MenuId=&id=NTQzOA U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Drug and Evaluation and Research. (2007, November 14). Mircera full prescribing information. Retrieved November 2, 2008, from http://www.fda.gov/cder/ foi/label/2007/125164lbl.pdf Wilcockson, J. (2007, October 24). The new passport: A conversation with Anne Gripper, VeloNews. Retrieved November 2, 2008, from http://www.velonews.com/article/13563 Rayvon Fouché is an associate professor of history and director of the Program in Science and Technology Studies at the University of Illinois. He is currently studying the ways sport governing bodies construct thresholds of authenticity by legislating technological use. Hackett, E. J. , Amsterdamska, O. , Lynch, M. , & Wajcman, J. (Eds.). ( 2007 ). The handbook of science and technology studies ( 3 rd ed.). Cambridge, MA : MIT Press . Union Cycliste International. ( 2007 , December 21). Information on the biological passport . Retrieved November 2, 2008, from http://www.uci.ch/Modules/ENews/ENewsDetails.asp?MenuId=&id=NTQzOA U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Drug and Evaluation and Research. ( 2007 , November 14). Mircera full prescribing information . Retrieved November 2, 2008, from http://www.fda.gov/cder/foi/label/2007/125164lbl.pdf Wilcockson, J. ( 2007 , October 24). The new passport: A conversation with Anne Gripper, VeloNews . Retrieved November 2, 2008, from http://www.velonews.com/article/13563

PY - 2009

Y1 - 2009

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=58849102962&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=58849102962&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/0193723508329192

DO - 10.1177/0193723508329192

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:58849102962

SN - 0193-7235

VL - 33

SP - 97

EP - 99

JO - Journal of Sport and Social Issues

JF - Journal of Sport and Social Issues

IS - 1

ER -