Gina Kolata

About the author: Gina Kolata is a science reporter for the New York Times.

Scandals involving performance-enhancing drugs are a recurring issue in the athletic world. However, some medical ethicists have questioned why drug use is so readily condemned by those who applaud other "unnatural" methods of improving one's athletic performance, such as altitude training and special diets. They argue that the use of drugs as a training and performance aid should be an individual decision left up to the athletes.

It happened again this year [1999]. Another drug scandal in sports. This time, it involved more than a dozen cyclists in Swiss and Italian races failing blood tests, including Marco Pantani of Italy, last year's winner of the Tour de France.

But some critics are pointing to what they see...