The San Francisco Chronicle ran a story earlier this week about a recent recommendation by the NCAA to screen college athletes for the gene that can cause sickle cell disease. This has resulted in a significant amount of heated debate including testimony from experts who claim the testing is unnecessary and highlight the possibility of unintended discrimination against minority athletes.
About the issue:
Sickle cell disease is a blood disorder that can cause severe pain, stroke and death, but sickle cell trait is almost always benign, and many people never know whether they carry the gene. About 8 percent of black people and about 1 percent of Latinos have sickle cell trait, but it’s rare among white people, affecting only about 1 in 10,000.
Several high-profile cases of athletes dying during extreme workouts have led some researchers to believe that sickle cell trait can be fatal. The case with the most impact was the 2006 death of 19-year-old Dale Lloyd II, a Rice University football player who had sickle cell trait and collapsed after a physically intense practice.
Lloyd’s family filed suit, saying the university should have tested the young man. As part of a settlement, the NCAA made its recommendation to screen athletes, which was announced in June.
A medical opinion:
But sickle cell experts, including at Children’s Hospital Oakland, say the action is misguided. There is little science to back up the assumption that sickle cell trait causes death, they say, and screening players could do more harm than good for black and other minority athletes. “A coach is going to be able to say, ‘Even though this kid is great, do I really want to put him out there as the quarterback or starting player and take the risk of something happening?’ ” said Dr. Elliott Vichinsky, a sickle cell expert and director of hematology and oncology at Children’s Hospital Oakland.
And a sociological opinion:
The United States has a long history of discrimination against people with sickle cell trait, said Troy Duster, a sociologist at UC Berkeley and New York University. In the 1960s, people who tested positive weren’t allowed into the Air Force Academy, and into the ’70s people were denied insurance or certain jobs, he said.
It’s irresponsible to screen people when there’s little scientific evidence that the gene causes death and no specific precautions athletes can take to protect themselves, Duster said.
“When you screen someone, the question is, for what? What are you going to do with that information?” Duster said. “The NCAA is saying they want education, but education requires research, and there’s no research.”
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