The Use Of Human Growth Hormone Poses A Grave Dilemma For Sport

Those who would control with drug testing the use of exogenous hGH—i.e., hGH not naturally developed by the body—among athletes face an uphill struggle. Not only has no such test yet been developed, but according to such scientists as Dr. Manfred Donike, the West German who was instrumental in drug testing at both the most recent Pan Am and Olympic Games, technical difficulties may also make one impossible to devise. So the specter exists of a future in which synthetic human growth hormone will be in abundant supply; in which normal children will be treated with GH by grown men whose dreams of personal glory blind them to ethical considerations; and in which literally monstrous athletes will contend for the spoiled spoils of victory. It is, indeed, a fairly short leap from H.G. Wells to hGH.