轉基因食品是否安全？
It"s human nature, it seems, to resist change and fear the unknown. So it is no surprise that genetic engineering of food and feed crops resulted in their resounding condemnation as "Frankenfoods" by many consumers, who seem as terrified of eating an apple with an added anti-browning gene or a pink pineapple genetically enriched with the antioxidant lycopene as I am of self-driving cars.
抵制變化和害怕未知似乎是人類的本性。所以毫不奇怪，食品和飼料作物的基因工程引起了許多消費者的強烈譴責，稱為"科學怪食"，這些消費者會害怕吃一種含有抗褐變基因的蘋果或一種富含抗氧化劑番茄紅素的粉紅色菠蘿。
Trek down the grocery aisles of any large market and you"ll find many products prominently labeled "No G.M.O.s." It"s much harder to spot the small print on many other foods stating "Partially produced with genetic engineering," a result of a 2016 federal law that mandated uniform labeling of all food products containing genetically engineered ingredients.
在任何一個大型市場里，你都會發現許多產品被標註為"不含轉基因食品"。由於2016年聯邦法律規定所有含有轉基因成分的食品必須統一標識，因此很難發現許多其他食品上標有"部分由轉基因生產"字樣的小字。
The labeling requirement arose in response to public pressure and a confusing array of state rules. But while I endorse the public"s right to know and honest labeling of all products, in an important way it is very misleading. Farmers and agricultural scientists have been genetically engineering the foods we eat for centuries through breeding programs that result in large and largely uncontrolled exchanges of genetic material. What many consumers may not realize: For many decades, in addition to traditional crossbreeding, agricultural scientists have used radiation and chemicals to induce gene mutations in edible crops in attempts to achieve desired characteristics.
這種標簽要求是為了應對公眾壓力和一系列令人困惑的國家規定而產生的。但是，儘管我贊同公眾對所有產品的了解和誠實標籤的權利，但在一個重要的方面，它是非常具有誤導性的。農民和農業科學家一直在通過育種計劃對幾個世紀以來我們所吃的食物進行基因改造，從而導致遺傳物質大量不受控制地交換。許多消費者可能沒有意識到：在過去的幾十年里，除了傳統的雜交，農業科學家已經利用輻射和化學物質誘導食用作物的基因突變，以達到預期的特徵。
Modern genetic engineering differs in two ways: Only one or a few new genes with a known function are introduced into a crop, and sometimes the new genes come from an unrelated species. Thus, a gene meant to instill frost tolerance into, say, spinach, might come from a fish that lives in icy waters.
現代基因工程有兩種不同的方式：只有一種或幾種具有已知功能的新基因被引入作物，有時新基因來自不相關的物種。因此，一種抗凍的基因，比如說菠菜的，可能來自生活在冰冷水域中的魚。
In the decades since the first genetically modified foods reached the market, no adverse health effects among consumers have been found. This is not to say there are none, but as hard as opponents of the technology have looked, none have yet been definitely identified.
自從第一批轉基因食品進入市場以來的幾十年中，在消費者里沒有發現不健康的現象出現。這並不是說沒有，但是就像技術反對者們所看到的那樣，目前還沒有明確的證據。
Although about 90 percent of scientists believe G.M.O.s are safe - a view endorsed by the American Medical Association, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the World Health Organization - only slightly more than a third of consumers share this belief.
雖然大約90％的科學家認為轉基因食品是安全的- 美國醫學協會，美國國家科學院，美國科學促進會和世界衛生組織認可的觀點 -但只有略高於三分之一的消費者認同這一觀點。
It is not possible to prove a food is safe, only to say that no hazard has been shown to exist. The fears of G.M.O.s are still theoretical, like the possibility that insertion of one or a few genes could have a negative impact on other desirable genes naturally present in the crop.
不可能證明食物是安全的，只能說沒有證據表明存在危險。對轉基因食品的擔憂仍然是理論上的，就像插入一個或幾個基因可能對作物中天然存在的其他理想基因產生負面影響的可能性一樣。
Among commonly expressed concerns - again, none of which have been clearly demonstrated - are unwanted changes in nutritional content, the creation of allergens and toxic effects on bodily organs. According to an interview in Scientific American with Robert Goldberg, a plant molecular biologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, such fears have not yet been quelled despite "hundreds of millions of genetic experiments involving every type of organism on earth and people eating billions of meals without a problem."
在普遍表示的擔憂中 - 再一次，沒有一個能夠清楚地表明 - 是有害的營養成分變化，產生過敏原和對身體器官的毒性作用。根據加利福尼亞大學洛杉磯分校植物分子生物學家羅伯特戈德堡與《科學美國人》的一次採訪，儘管"數以億計的基因實驗涉及到地球上的每一種生物，人們吃了數十億頓飯也沒有任何問題"，但這種擔憂仍未平息。
Establishing long-term safety would require prohibitively expensive decades of study of hundreds of thousands of G.M.O. consumers and their non-G.M.O. counterparts.
要建立長期的安全體系，需要花數十年的時間來研究成千上萬的轉基因消費者和與這些相對應的他們的非轉基因食品。
Meanwhile, a number of impressive benefits have been well established. For example, an analysis of 76 studies published in February in Scientific Reports by researchers in Pisa, Italy, found that genetically engineered corn has a significantly higher yield than non-genetically modified varieties and contains lower amounts of toxins commonly produced by fungi.
與此同時，一些令人印象深刻的好處已經得到充分證實。例如，義大利比薩的研究人員在2月份的科學報告中對76項研究進行了分析，發現轉基因玉米的產量明顯高於非轉基因品種，並含有較低數量的由真菌產生的毒素。
Both effects most likely stem from the genetically engineered resistance to a major insect pest, the western corn rootworm, which damages ears of corn and allows fungi to flourish. The researchers said that the change has had little or no effect on other insects.
這兩種效應很可能源於基因工程對一種主要害蟲 - 西方玉米根蟲的抗性，這種害蟲會損害玉米穗並使真菌生長茂盛。研究人員說，這種變化對其他昆蟲幾乎沒有影響。
By engineering resistance to insect damage, farmers have been able to use fewer pesticides while increasing yields, which enhances safety for farmers and the environment while lowering the cost of food and increasing its availability. Yields of corn, cotton and soybeans are said to have risen by 20 percent to 30 percent through the use of genetic engineering.
通過對害蟲的抗性進行基因改造，農民能夠在增加產量的同時減少農藥的使用，從而提高了農民和環境的安全性，同時降低了食品成本並增加了糧食供給。據說通過基因工程，玉米，棉花和大豆的產量增加了20％至30％。
Billions of edible animals are raised in this country each year on feed containing G.M.O.s, with no evidence of harm. In fact, animal health and growth efficiency actually improved on the genetically engineered feed,according to a 2014 review in the Journal of Animal Science.
在這個國家，每年有數十億的食用動物被含有轉基因食品的飼料餵養，但並沒有任何傷害的證據。事實上，根據2014年《動物科學雜誌》的綜述，動物的健康和生長實際上因為基因飼料得到了改善。
Wider adoption of genetic engineering, especially in African and Asian countries that still spurn the technology, could greatly increase the food supply in areas where climate change will increasingly require that crops can grow in dry and salty soils and tolerate temperature extremes. I continue to be distressed by the resistance to Golden Rice, a crop genetically engineered to supply more vitamin A than spinach that could prevent irreversible blindness and more than a million deaths a year.
更廣泛地採用基因工程，特別是在仍拒絕這項技術的非洲和亞洲國家，可能會大大增加氣候變化日益要求作物能夠在乾燥和鹽鹼化的土壤中生長以及忍受極端溫度的地區的糧食供應。我仍然對黃金大米的抵制感到痛心，黃金大米是一種轉基因作物，它可以提供比菠菜更多的維生素A，能預防不可逆轉的失明和每年超過100萬人的死亡。
Nonetheless, gene modification scientists are focusing increasingly on building health benefits into widely used foods. In addition to pink pineapples containing the tomato-based antioxidant lycopene, tomatoes are being engineered to contain the antioxidant-rich purple pigment from blueberries.
儘管如此，基因改造科學家正在越來越多地關注將健康益處納入廣泛使用的食品中。除了含有番茄基抗氧化番茄紅素的粉紅菠蘿之外，西紅柿還被設計成含有來自藍莓的富含抗氧化劑的紫色色素。
And people in developing countries faced with famine and malnutrition are likely to benefit from attempts to improve the protein content of food crops, as well as the amount of vitamins and minerals they provide.
發展中國家的人口面臨著饑荒和營養不良，他們可能會從改善糧食作物蛋白質含量，以及提供的維生素和礦物質數量中受益。
This is not to say that everything done in the name of genetic engineering has a clean bill of health. Controversy abounds over the use of genetically modified seeds that produce crops like soy, corn, canola, alfalfa, cotton and sorghum that are resistant to a widely used herbicide, glyphosate, the health effects of which are still unclear.
這並不意味著以基因工程的名義所做的一切都是健康的。對於轉基因種子的使用爭議頗多，比如大豆，玉米，油菜，苜蓿，棉花和高粱等農作物對廣泛使用的除草劑草甘膦具有抗藥性，但其對健康的影響尚不清楚。
In the latest development, resistance to a second weed killer, 2,4-D, has been combined with glyphosate resistance. Although the combination product, called Enlist Duo, was approved in 2014 by the Environmental Protection Agency, 2,4-D has been linked to an increase in non-Hodgkin"s lymphoma and a number of neurological disorders, researchers reported in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
在最新的發展中，對第二種除草劑的抗性，2,4-D，已經與草甘膦抗性相結合。研究人員在《國際環境研究與公共衛生雜誌》上發表的研究報告稱，儘管這一名為"Enlist Duo"的組合產品在2014年被美國環境保護署批准，但2,4-D與非霍奇金淋巴瘤的增多和一些神經疾病的增加有關。
The bottom line: Consumers concerned about the growing use of G.M.O.s in the foods they depend on might consider taking a more nuanced approach than blanket opposition. Rather than wholesale rejection, take some time to learn about how genetic engineering works and the benefits it can offer now and in the future as climate change takes an ever greater toll on food supplies. Consider supporting efforts that result in safe products that represent improvements over the original and focusing opposition on those that are less desirable.
底線：消費者擔心在他們所依賴的食品中越來越多地使用轉基因食品，他們可能會考慮採取比全面反對更細緻的方法。與其批評拒絕，還不如花一些時間了解基因工程的工作原理以及它現在和將來所能帶來的好處，因為氣候變化會對食品供應造成越來越大的影響。考慮支持那些能夠帶來安全產品的努力，這些產品代表了對原有產品的改進，並將反對意見集中在那些不太理想的產品上。
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