Traditional plant breeding involves crossing varieties of the same species in ways they could cross naturally. For example, disease-resistant varieties of wheat have been crossed with high-yield wheat to combine these properties. This type of natural gene exchange is safe and fairly predictable .

　　Genetic engineering ( GE) involves exchanging genes between unrelated species that cannot naturally exchange genes with each other. GE can involve the exchange of genes between vastly different species — e. g. putting scorpion toxin genes into maize or fish antifreeze genes into tomatoes. It is possible that a scorpion toxin gene , even when it is in maize DNA1 , will still get the organism to produce scorpion toxin — but what other effects may it have in this alien environment? We are already seeing this problem — adding human growth hormone genes to pigs certainly makes them grow — but it also gives them arthritis and makes them cross-eyed , which was entirely unpredictable.

　　It will be obvious, for example, that the gene for human intelligence will not have the same effect if inserted into cabbage DNA as it had in human DNA— but what side-effect would it have? In other words, is GM food2 safe to eat? The answer is that nobody knows because long-term tests have not been carried out.

　　Companies wanting a GM product approved in the UK or USA are required to provide regulatory bodies with results of their own safety tests. Monsanto’s3 soya beans were apparently fed to fish for 10 weeks before being approved. There was no requirement for independent testing, for long-term testing, for testing on humans or testing for specific dangers to children or allergic4 people.

　　The current position of the UK Government is that“There is no evidence of long-term dangers from GM foods. ”In the US, the American Food and Drug Administration5 is currently being prosecuted for covering up research that suggested possible risks from GM foods.

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　　練習題：

　　Ⅰ. Match the wo rds with th eir Ch ine se e quiva lents :

　　1. disease-resistant A. 掩蓋( 真相)

　　2. side-effect B. 高產的

　　3. long-term dangers C. 長期危害

　　4. cover up D. 副作用

　　5. high-yield E. 抗病的

　　Ⅱ. Question :

　　What do companies wanting a GM product approved in the UK or USA do?

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　　參考答案

　　Ⅰ. 1. E 2. D 3 . C 4. A 5 . B

　　Ⅱ. They are required to provide regulatory bodies with results of their own safety tests.

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　　參考譯文：

　　食用轉基因食品安全嗎?

　　傳 統的植物培育方法, 是依照植物自然雜交的方式, 進行相同物種的人工雜交。比如,抗病小麥同高產小麥雜交, 形成了一種具有雙重特性的新的小麥品種。這種自然的基因交換既安全, 又具有相當的可預見性。

　　基因工程是在彼此毫無關系的物種之間, 相互交換在自然條件下無法交換的基因。它可在有巨大差異的物種之間進行基因交換。比如, 將蝎子毒素基因注入玉米, 或者將魚防凍基因注入西紅柿。即使在玉米脫氧核糖核酸中, 蝎子毒素基因依然可能獲得產生蝎子毒素的有機組織。但是在這種異質的環境中, 這種基因產品會有什么其他作用嗎? 我們實際上已經發現這個問題: 將人類生長荷爾蒙基因植入豬的體內, 一定會使豬的生長加速, 但是同時也使豬患上了關節炎和內斜視, 而這一切是完全無法預測的。

　　打個比方, 人類的智力基因顯而易見在人體脫氧核糖核酸內和注入卷心菜脫氧核糖核酸后的作用是不同的。但將它植入卷心菜中會產生什么樣的副作用呢? 換句話說, 食用轉基因食品安全嗎? 沒有人知道答案, 因為人們尚未進行長期的測試。

　　在英國或者美國, 一個公司如果希望其轉基因產品獲得批準, 它必須向管理機構提供 本公司轉基因產品安全測試的結果。孟山都公司的大豆在獲得批準之前, 曾用了10 周時間 進行喂魚試驗。目前, 尚無要求對轉基因產品進行獨立測試、長期測試、人體測試, 或者就其對兒童及過敏者所造成的特定危險進行測試。

　　英國政府目前的態度是:“ 尚無證據表明食用轉基因食品存在長期性的危險。”在美國, 人們正在起訴美國食品藥品管理局掩蓋轉基因食品安全性的研究結果。這些研究結果指出, 食用轉基因食品可能導致危險。