Topic: Myostatin deficient toddler

[leighton richards]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070530/strong_toddler_070530/20070530
Fascinating, his adopted Father says he wants to see him go into Football when he gets older.
But assuming he got the opportunity to go to the Olympics in weightlifting, what a moral can of worms that would open.
If he beat the world record, would it be fair since he has a huge genetic advantage over "normal people".

Also interesting is the German toddler with a similar condition
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2004-06-23-baby-muscles_x.htm

I read someone say it is an interesting coincidence this baby was born in Germany.
Bear with me this is just a Theory or a "what if":
What if some of the Nazi experiments to create the supersoldier, successfully engineered people with one defective version of the myostatin gene.
On its own this would make you unusually strong and muscular.
However 2 generations later, 2 people both carrying the defective gene produce a baby with 2 defective versions of the gene, making the baby "double muscled" as in the article.
Would it now be fair for that baby to go to the Olympics in 20 years time, since he is effectively the product of genetic engineering.

[leighton richards]

This article investigates the same topic further with a more scientific/etical slant

http://www.sciencentral.com/articles/view.php3?article_id=218392292&cat=1_2

[Leighton Dougall]

In my humble opinion, it would be absolutely fair for this kid to compete in whatever sport he wanted. Everybody always says to be a great champion you need heart, determination, and good genetics. Well, he's got the genetics thing covered! He is gifted and without taking any sort of drug could probably get bigger than most other people with all the drugs in the world, and I think stopping him because he can develop muscle easier than a normal person would be no better than getting rid of Suley cos he has short arms and legs and has a good physique for lifting.

But don't forget that if he continues to have 40-50% more muscle mass than other people his age, he could be 15 years old, 5'8" and 100kg+ of solid muscle. When he's 20 he might be 140kg and he'll be struggling to run and move normally. He might have a heart attack when he's 25 because he's got too much body mass for his organs to support. Who knows what other effects this apparently cool trait could have on his system.

Quote from the link above:
"If I was a weightlifter and competing against someone who is not making any myostatin because of a mutation in his genes, then I think I might want to file a protest that that person has an unfair genetic advantage even though they inherited it."

What a tool! That's like being upset because another athlete is taller or faster, "Oh he's got better genetics than me, it's not fair!" THAT'S SPORTS. Someone has to win, someone has to be better, and we don't all come out of the same mould. Of course if someone can modify their genes artificially then that's gene doping, but anyone should be able to use abilities they've been gifted at birth.

Leighton

[Shaun Le Conte]

The article did say that there are 100 adults in the world already with this condition

"Researchers at Johns Hopkins wanted to include Liam in a study of people with the condition. When they found 100 adults to participate, Liam was no longer needed. That was a relief for his parents, who did not want to subject Liam to the painful muscle biopsy that would be required of everyone in the study."

So far the weightlifting records have not been under seige, and I don't think they will be to any great degree in the near future because it's not about muscle mass. Bodybuilding, now that's different. Victor Conte of the now infamous Balco Enterprises claimed to have tested bodybuilder Flex Wheeler for the same genetic mutation and found that Flex had it. http://www.musclephotos.com/myogene.html

It will be interesting to see the child as he grows up.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Moved to General...since it seems on topic to me...

If it should be okay for the kid to be compete the way he/she is born without it being a rule violation, what if the parents intentionally altered their genes before conception? Or altered the babies genes before birth?

Still okay?

Interesting....

[Leighton Dougall]

Press Conference: "Such and such lifter has had his Gold medal stripped as post competition testing showed that his parents had in fact altered their genetics in a bid to produce a genetically superior super baby, and has thus breached doping regulations. As this is irreversible he has also been permanently banned from participating in any sports AT ALL!"

This is not unlike china selecting abnormally large men and women, getting them to breed and produce freakishly tall basketball playing offspring, who are picked up and trained in the sport from a young age.

I will now withdraw from this morally ambiguous debate as the possible permutations are endless, as are the ways in the future that athletes will use to find an edge over their competition.

Leighton

[leighton richards]

As I understand it, if you have one copy of the mutated gene, you are unusually strong and muscular.
This is very rare in humans.
If you have 2 copies, you had to have inherited one from the mother and one from the father, in which case you become "double muscled", as in the case of German kid.
There may be 100 people with one copy of the mutated gene, but I understood the German kid was unique in that he had 2 copies of the rare gene.
It was not clear from the article about Liam Hoekstra that he had one or 2 versions of the mutated gene, but it suggested he had the same condition as the german kid.
Even though weightlifting is not just about muscle mass, I would have though he would have a competitive advantage.
Bodybuilders increase their muscle mass by using training methods and drugs to produce sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, meaning basically increasing the amount of fluid in there muscles.  This is one of the reasons their large pumped up muscles are not as strong as a much smaller weightlifter.
Weightlifters and sprinters produce sarcomeric hypertrophy by training low reps with high intensity, ie growth in the contractile elements of the muscle fibre.
If this boy was to train as a weightlifter and produce a lot of sarcomeric hypertrophy, his muscles would be incredibly dense and powerful.