Speed, strength and endurance - the qualities of every athletic competition - could develop on a new front that is virtually undetectable and involves no use of performance-enhancing drugs. Several experts in genetic engineering told congressional staff members that information on the connections between genes and performance is accumulating so quickly that it will inevitably lead to a day when illegal use of steroids and other strategies are replaced by genetic engineering. Schemes to install genes that stimulate greater production of red blood cells or greater muscle growth already are being promoted, said University of California, San Diego geneticist Theodore Friedmann. ‘They’re clearly hyped, they’re clearly overblown, they’re clearly wrong, in my opinion,’ he said, ‘but this science is inevitable, and it’s not too early to think about public policy in this area.’