基因转殖作物的利弊风险 Apr 23, 2007《纽时周报全文精译》 How to Confine the Plants of the Future? 张佑生译 制造药物和化学成分的新一代基因转殖作物正快速向市场进军，引起对全 球粮食及饲料供应新一波的安全顾虑。 A new generation of genetically engineered crops that produce drugs and chemicals is fast approaching the market － bringing with it a new wave of concerns about the safety of the global food and feed supply. 基因转殖作物生产胰岛素、抗凝血剂与血液代用品等药物。它们生产蛋白质 做成的疫苗来对抗霍乱之类的疾病，以及对抗龋齿和非何杰金氏淋巴瘤的抗体。 取自植物的化学成分，可以用在一系列工业生产上。 The plants produce medicinal substances like insulin, anticoagulants and blood substitutes. They produce vaccine proteins for diseases like cholera, as well as antibodies against tooth decay and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Chemicals from the plants can be used for a range of industrial processes. 问题是基因转殖作物含有潜在的有毒药物和化学成分，而且因为看起来像 一般作物，采收前後都可能被误认为食物。 The problem is, the plants contain potentially toxic drugs and chemicals, and because they look like ordinary crops, they can be mistaken for food, both before and after harvest. 如同过去有关基改作物的辩论，生物科技发展人士表示利大於弊，而且风险 在可管理控制的范围内。批评者则说，食物供给可能有毒的风险防不胜防。 As in past debates over genetically modified crops, biotech developers say that the benefits outweigh the risks, and that the risks are manageable. Critics say the risk of a potentially toxic food supply is untenable. 在中间平衡经济效益和公共安全的是政府的管制。 In the middle, balancing economic benefit and public safety, the government regulators. 根据牛津大学的「詹姆斯马丁科学与文明研究所」副研究员杰洛米‧拉维兹 的看法，生物科技风险的争议肇因於「官方科学专业」发生危机。 Controversies over biotech risk are caused by a crisis in “official scientific expertise,” according to Jerome Ravetz, an associate fellow at the James Martin Institute for Science and Civilization at the University of Oxford. 他说，这危机源於政府角色的冲突。一方面，企业提供产品创新的风险与安 全的科学证据给管理单位。另一方面，心存疑虑的市民要求管理单位质疑这些证 据。 The crisis, he said, stems from the conflicting roles of government. On one side, businesses provide regulators with scientific evidence about the risk and safety of their product innovations. On the other, suspicious citizens demand that regulators challenge that evidence. 到目前为止，商业部门占上风。尽管农民、环保人士，甚至单位自己的研究 人员，所表达的关切有科学根据，美国农业部已经批准一百多项培育所谓生药作 物的申请案，包括玉米、大豆、大麦、稻米、红花和菸草。开发者表示，这些作 物是达成规模经济和节省成本的最佳方式，将可让他们满足对类似人体胰岛素药 物需求的增加。 So far, the business sector has tipped the scales in its favor. Despite science-based concerns voiced by farmers, environmentalists and even its own researchers, the United States Department of Agriculture has approved more than 100 applications to grow so-called biopharma crops of corn, soybeans, barley, rice, safflower and tobacco. Developers say these crops are the best way to achieve the economies of scale and cost savings that will let them meet rising demand for drugs like human insulin. 他们承认，种植药用作物比工厂制药的风险更高。 They acknowledge that growing pharmaceutical crops is riskier than making drugs in factories. 所以，最重要的是将生药植物、花粉和种子控制在种植的田地范围内。否则 它们可能污染其他作物、近缘植物和整个生态环境。 The most important thing, then, is to keep biopharma plants, pollen and seeds confined to the fields where they are planted. Otherwise, they may contaminate other crops, wild relatives and the environment. 「在我们的系统下，监督的规格和作物的风险等量齐观。」机构的生技规范 服务局「政策协调计画」主任约翰‧透纳表示：「我们采取特别措施，确保这些 药用和工业用作物彼此保持距离，并在管制隔离范围内。」 “Under our system, the degree of oversight is commensurate with the risk of the crops,” said John Thrner, director of the policy coordination program for the agency’s Biotechnology Regulatory Services. “We take extraordinary measures to make sure these pharma and industrial crops are kept separate and confined.” 以此为目标，有些培育人士采用像稻米和红花这种会自花授粉的植物，降低 风授粉和昆虫授粉污染非生药植物的风险。 To this end, some developers use plants like rice and safflower that self-pollinate, reducing the risk of contaminating nonpharma plants by wind and insect pollination. 但有些没有被生药风险评估承认的科学证据，使困难中露出的一点光明蒙上 一层阴影。 But there is some scientific evidence not acknowledged in biopharma risk assessments that casts a dark cloud over this silver lining. 一位熟知生药作物某些问题的科学家诺曼‧艾斯川德是加州大学河滨分校遗 传学系教授，也是该校「生物科技影响中心」主任。露天田地能不能有效围堵生 药基因散布，他也深感怀疑。 One scientist familiar with some of the issues raised by pharma crops is Norman C. Ellstrand, a professor in the department of genetics at the University of California, Riverside, and director of Biotechnology Impacts Center. He is deeply skeptical that efforts to confine biopharma genes in open fields will work. 「我认为改作药用植物的点子不坏，但有两个但书，」艾斯川德教授说。其 一，他认为应该在温室、而非开放的田地种植。「另一个问题是食物，」他说。 「为何我们非得用粮食作物来改作？从什麽里面挤出复合物并不重要，可以是康 乃馨、玉米植株或者蓖麻子。」 “I don’t think that engineering plants for pharma is a bad idea, with two caveats,” Professor Ellstrand said. One, he says he thinks that planting should be done in greenhouses rather than in open fields. “The other issue is food,” he said. “Why do we have to do this in food crops? It doesn’t matter what you’re squeezing the compound out of. It could be a carnation, a corn plant or a castor bean.” 艾斯川德教授也说，自花授粉并未根绝植物间的基因流动，而异花授粉也不 是生药作物能够逸出隔离管制的唯一方式。 Professor Ellstrand also said that self-pollination does not eliminate gene flow between plants, and that cross-pollination is not the only way that pharma crops can escape confinement. 科学家对不具专业知识的人来协助他们进行风险评估的看法，通常不当一回 事。因此，生技科学家和管理单位长期以来都是在自己设计的不透明系统内进行 安全评定。 Scientists often dismiss the idea that people without technical knowledge can help them make risk assessments. As a result, biotech scientists and regulators have long made safety determinations from within an opaque system of their own design. 如果开发者要贩卖他们的产品，他们的发明在生物药学这麽激进的科技上市 贩售前，必须接受自己小圈圈以外的人详细观察监督。 If developers want to sell their products, they must subject their inventions to the scrutiny of people outside the club － before radical technologies like biopharma are brought to market. By DENISE CARUSO 关键字句 本文讨论基因转殖作物（genetically engineered crops）的利弊风险。科 学家利用基因转殖技术将特定基因转殖至某些植物中，如为药用，称为生药作物 （biopharma crops）。 生技界认为基改作物利大於弊（the benefits outweigh the risks ; the advantages outweigh the disadvantages）。Outweigh指在重量或份量上胜出。 托尔斯泰的《战争与和平》，安德鲁王子担心拿破仑用兵如神恐会压过俄国军队 的所有勇气：He feared that Bonaparte's genius might outweigh all the courage of the Russian troops. 尽管批评者认为，食品有毒的风险防不胜防（untenable），业界的主张仍然 占上风（tip the scales in its favor）。片语tip the balance/ scales有影 响平衡的意思：In an interview, smart presentation can tip the scales in your favor.（面试时，机伶的表现可以帮你加分。）或New evidence tipped the balance against the prosecution.（案件出现的新证据，对检方不利。） 俗话说：塞翁失马，焉知非福。西谚也说：Every cloud has a silver lining. 按silver lining指阳光在乌云周围形成的亮边，引申为艰难处境中的一线希望。 本文倒过来讲，改成casts a dark cloud over this silver lining，一片乌云 投影在好不容易出现的光明上面，中文常见的说法是「蒙上一层阴影」。 （张佑生） 【2007-04-23/联合报/B6版/UNITED DAILY NEWS】 -- 大弦嘈嘈如急雨，小弦切切如私语。 嘈嘈切切错杂弹，大珠小珠落玉盘。 间关莺语花底滑，幽咽泉流水下滩。 水泉冷涩弦凝绝，凝绝不通声渐歇。 别有幽愁暗恨生，此时无声胜有声。 银瓶乍破水浆迸，铁骑突出刀枪鸣。 曲终收拨当心画，四弦一声如裂帛。 东船西舫悄无言，唯见江心秋月白。 --

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