基因轉殖作物的利弊風險 Apr 23, 2007《紐時周報全文精譯》 How to Confine the Plants of the Future? 張佑生譯 製造藥物和化學成分的新一代基因轉殖作物正快速向市場進軍，引起對全 球糧食及飼料供應新一波的安全顧慮。 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. 基因轉殖作物生產胰島素、抗凝血劑與血液代用品等藥物。它們生產蛋白質 做成的疫苗來對抗霍亂之類的疾病，以及對抗齲齒和非何杰金氏淋巴瘤的抗體。 取自植物的化學成分，可以用在一系列工業生產上。 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. 問題是基因轉殖作物含有潛在的有毒藥物和化學成分，而且因為看起來像 一般作物，採收前後都可能被誤認為食物。 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. 如同過去有關基改作物的辯論，生物科技發展人士表示利大於弊，而且風險 在可管理控制的範圍內。批評者則說，食物供給可能有毒的風險防不勝防。 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. 在中間平衡經濟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. 根據牛津大學的「詹姆斯馬丁科學與文明研究所」副研究員傑洛米‧拉維茲 的看法，生物科技風險的爭議肇因於「官方科學專業」發生危機。 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. 他說，這危機源於政府角色的衝突。一方面，企業提供產品創新的風險與安 全的科學證據給管理單位。另一方面，心存疑慮的市民要求管理單位質疑這些證 據。 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. 到目前為止，商業部門占上風。儘管農民、環保人士，甚至單位自己的研究 人員，所表達的關切有科學根據，美國農業部已經批准一百多項培育所謂生藥作 物的申請案，包括玉米、大豆、大麥、稻米、紅花和菸草。開發者表示，這些作 物是達成規模經濟和節省成本的最佳方式，將可讓他們滿足對類似人體胰島素藥 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. 他們承認，種植藥用作物比工廠製藥的風險更高。 They acknowledge that growing pharmaceutical crops is riskier than making drugs in factories. 所以，最重要的是將生藥植物、花粉和種子控制在種植的田地範圍內。否則 它們可能汙染其他作物、近緣植物和整個生態環境。 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. 「在我們的系統下，監督的規格和作物的風險等量齊觀。」機構的生技規範 服務局「政策協調計畫」主任約翰‧透納表示：「我們採取特別措施，確保這些 藥用和工業用作物彼此保持距離，並在管制隔離範圍內。」 “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.” 以此為目標，有些培育人士採用像稻米和紅花這種會自花授粉的植物，降低 風授粉和昆蟲授粉汙染非生藥植物的風險。 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. 但有些沒有被生藥風險評估承認的科學證據，使困難中露出的一點光明蒙上 一層陰影。 But there is some scientific evidence not acknowledged in biopharma risk assessments that casts a dark cloud over this silver lining. 一位熟知生藥作物某些問題的科學家諾曼‧艾斯川德是加州大學河濱分校遺 傳學系教授，也是該校「生物科技影響中心」主任。露天田地能不能有效圍堵生 藥基因散布，他也深感懷疑。 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. 「我認為改作藥用植物的點子不壞，但有兩個但書，」艾斯川德教授說。其 一，他認為應該在溫室、而非開放的田地種植。「另一個問題是食物，」他說。 「為何我們非得用糧食作物來改作？從什麼裡面擠出複合物並不重要，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.” 艾斯川德教授也說，自花授粉並未根絕植物間的基因流動，而異花授粉也不 是生藥作物能夠逸出隔離管制的唯一方式。 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. 科學家對不具專業知識的人來協助他們進行風險評估的看法，通常不當一回 事。因此，生技科學家和管理單位長期以來都是在自己設計的不透明系統內進行 安全評定。 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. 如果開發者要販賣他們的產品，他們的發明在生物藥學這麼激進的科技上市 販售前，必須接受自己小圈圈以外的人詳細觀察監督。 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 關鍵字句 本文討論基因轉殖作物（genetically engineered crops）的利弊風險。科 學家利用基因轉殖技術將特定基因轉殖至某些植物中，如為藥用，稱為生藥作物 （biopharma crops）。 生技界認為基改作物利大於弊（the benefits outweigh the risks ; the advantages outweigh the disadvantages）。Outweigh指在重量或份量上勝出。 托爾斯泰的《戰爭與和平》，安德魯王子擔心拿破崙用兵如神恐會壓過俄國軍隊 的所有勇氣：He feared that Bonaparte's genius might outweigh all the courage of the Russian troops. 儘管批評者認為，食品有毒的風險防不勝防（untenable），業界的主張仍然 占上風（tip the scales in its favor）。片語tip the balance/ scales有影 響平衡的意思：In an interview, smart presentation can tip the scales in your favor.（面試時，機伶的表現可以幫你加分。）或New evidence tipped the balance against the prosecution.（案件出現的新證據，對檢方不利。） 俗話說：塞翁失馬，焉知非福。西諺也說：Every cloud has a silver lining. 按silver lining指陽光在烏雲周圍形成的亮邊，引申為艱難處境中的一線希望。 本文倒過來講，改成casts a dark cloud over this silver lining，一片烏雲 投影在好不容易出現的光明上面，中文常見的說法是「蒙上一層陰影」。 （張佑生） 【2007-04-23/聯合報/B6版/UNITED DAILY NEWS】 -- 大弦嘈嘈如急雨，小弦切切如私語。 嘈嘈切切錯雜彈，大珠小珠落玉盤。 間關鶯語花底滑，幽咽泉流水下灘。 水泉冷澀弦凝絕，凝絕不通聲漸歇。 別有幽愁暗恨生，此時無聲勝有聲。 銀瓶乍破水漿迸，鐵騎突出刀槍鳴。 曲終收撥當心畫，四弦一聲如裂帛。 東船西舫悄無言，唯見江心秋月白。 --

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