Uses and abuses of the concept of race in the genomics of sport performance: epistemological and ethical considerations - Silvia Camporesi (UNIBO)

Abstract: The post-genomics age has witnessed a ‘surprising’ re-inscription of biological discourses of race, including in the context of sports performance. In this paper I tackle the epistemological and ethical issues related to the use of the concept of race in biomedical research and sports genomics. In the first part of the paper, I argue that to date there is no evidence of a main role of genetic factors in determining an elite status of sports performance, and several doubts and worries are emerging on the use of genetic testing to identify talent for sports performance. Moreover, data on differences in genetic markers among athletes of different “races” (either categorised or self-categorised as different “races”) that may be relevant to determine racial differences in sports performance are controversial and equivocal. In the second part of the paper, I analyse the main ethical issues concerning the reification of race concepts in human genomics, including those resulting from stereotype threat and early intervention programmes. I conclude that the practice in sports genomics to refer race-specific genes not only is epistemologically incorrect, but it also arises many ethical issues due to the negative impact on the society as increasing social and health inequalities among racial groups. Hence, the ‘race’ concept should not be used in sports genomics as a population descriptor.

Bio: Silvia Camporesi is a bioethicist trained in biotechnology and philosophy of medicine. A graduate of the Collegio Superiore University of Bologna, she obtained her degree in Medical Biotechnology in 2006 with an experimental thesis in gene therapy at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Triest. Silvia completed her first Ph.D. in "Foundations of Life Sciences and Ethics" at the University of Milan in 2010, followed by a second Ph.D. in Philosophy of Medicine at King’s College London in 2013. From 2013 to 2022, she held positions as Lecturer/Senior Lecturer/Reader in Bioethics&Society at King’s College London. From October 2022 to October 2023, she served as a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Vienna. Since October 2023, she has been a research fellow at the University of Bologna. Silvia is the author of over 50 peer-reviewed articles, two monographs in English (2014;2018), and a book in Italian published by Fandango (2023).