Performance Enhancing Drugs

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One of the biggest ethical issues in sports today is performance enhancing drugs. In order for one to decide whether or not the use of performance enhancing drugs in sports is ethical or unethical, one must know the definition of ethics, sport, and performance enhancing drugs. Ethics is a branch of philosophy which seeks to address questions about morality; that is, about concepts such as good and bad, right and wrong, justice, and virtue. By definition sports are institutionalized competitive activities that involve rigorous physical exertion, or the use of relatively complex physical skills by participants motivated by internal and external rewards (Coakley 2008). Sports are supposed to teach ethics, honesty, health awareness, character, teamwork, and respect for rules and laws as well as respect for self and others. The use of performance enhancing drugs are also known as doping and according to the Olympic Movement Anti-Doping Code, doping is the use of an expedient which is potentially harmful to athletes’ health and/or capable of enhancing their performance, or the presence in the athlete’s body of a Prohibited Substance, or evidence of the use thereof or evidence of a Prohibited Method (Coakley 2008). Some examples of performance enhancing drugs are anabolic steroids, human growth hormones (HGH), narcotic analgesics, and Beta2-adrenergic agonist. Based on these definitions, performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) in sports are unethical because the rules prohibit them, but more importantly they create unfair advantages and are a health risk. One reason why performance enhancing drugs in sports creates ethical issues is because it is a form of cheating and creates an unfair advantage which affects the true meaning of sports. Sports are supposed to unite people together and create a better living environment. Performance enhancing drugs preserve the intrinsitic

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