The Disadvantages of Biotechnology生物技术的弊端

文/路易丝·加耶 译/李小雪

By Louise Gaille

The benefits of biotechnology can range from reducing environmental pollution to involvement in medical and industrial processes. Still, when biotechnology is mishandled, it can lead to the rise of several issues. Let’s take a look at some of these issues.

1. Genetic mutations are dangerous

Introduction of foreign genes to the diet may affect the health of human beings, the immune system may not tolerate the desired genes inserted through genetically modified food can be dangerous to the human body. This might cause allergies, sometimes cancer,and some diseases getting immune to drugs, which is a serious problem.

2. Impact on the ecosystem and nature

生物技术有诸多好处，从减少环境污染到助力医疗和工业。然而，如果生物技术被滥用，会引发一些问题。接下来，我们来看看其中的某些问题。

1. 基因变异有危险

食用引入外源基因的食品可能会影响人体健康。人体的免疫系统可能对于转基因食品中植入的所需基因并不耐受，进而对人体造成危害——可能会引发过敏，甚至癌症，以及一些疾病的耐药性。这是一个严重的问题。

2. 对生态系统和大自然的影响

生物技术被用来修改生物的基因，其影响尚不明确。这些转基因生物也包括细菌，能够在环境中逃逸，可能会扰乱生态系统的平衡。因此，生态系统可能会失衡，而生命体，特别是人类，可能也会受到伤害。

Biotechnology is used to modify organisms, genetically, the effect of which is still not known. These genetically modified organisms, including bacteria,can escape in the environment and may disturb the balance of the ecosystem.This, as a result, may cause imbalance in the ecosystem and also bring harm to living organisms, especially human beings.

3. Adverse effects on cropland

Biotechnology has allowed more vitamins and minerals to enter our food chain, but it could be coming at a cost.Many crops obtain their nutritional content from the soil in which they grow.If that soil is overloaded by the crop, it may lose its viability, even with crop rotation occurring. That may reduce the amount of growing time each land segment is able to provide while extending its recovery period at the same time. In some situations, the croplands could be permanently ruined.

4. It can be destructive

Biotechnology involves genetic alteration of various organisms both for production as well as research purposes.During this process of genetic alternation, some new kinds of bacteria could be produced which might be dangerous.In the wrong hands, it could also be turned into a dangerous biological weapon and might cause massive destruction.

5. Lack of genetic diversity

3. 对农田的不利影响

生物技术使得更多的维生素和矿物质进入我们的食物链，但这可能是有代价的。许多作物从生长的土壤中获取养分，如果土壤超负荷种植，就可能失去活力，即便是轮作也无济于事。这可能会缩短单位土地的种植期，同时延长其恢复期。在某些情况下，农田可能会被永久毁坏。

4.或具毁灭性

出于生产和研究目的，生物技术需要对各种生物进行基因改造。基因改造过程中会产生一些新的细菌种类，有可能带来危险。若受心术不正的人操控，它可转化为危险的生物武器，造成大规模破坏。

5. 缺乏遗传多样性

各种不同的生物技术工艺可用来提高作物产量及其营养价值。医疗领域使用基因变异来检验各种生物过程和生物产品。但这种做法的代价便是群体遗传学瓶颈效应。如果发生不可预见的事情，整个作物或医疗机会可能会付之东流，甚至威胁到某些物种的生存。

Different biotechnological processes are used to increase crop yield and their nutritious quality. In the medical field gene mutation is used to test different biological processes and products. But it comes at the price of a genetic bottleneck. Should something unforeseen happen, an entire crop or medical treatment opportunity could go to waste or even threaten the survival of certain species.

6. Field with many unknowns

Although our database of biotechnology has greatly expanded in the last generation, there are still many longterm unknowns that we face. What happens if we tinker with the genetics of a person to treat a disorder? What happens to the environment if we dramatically alter crops to grow in locations that would normally not support crop growth? Should every action have an equal and opposite reaction, future generations could pay the price for our research that is happening today.

7. It turns human life into a commodity

In the United States, the Supreme Court has ruled that DNA which is lab manipulated is eligible to be patented.The foundation of this ruling was that altered DNA sequences are not found in nature. At the moment, complementary DNA, or cDNA, has been specifically mentioned as an example of what could be patented. Obtaining such DNA and altered DNA sequences which can be sold as a profit opens the door tomany ethical questions concerning human life.It also highlights the immorality associated with the purpose of making money off of human lives, like ‘playing god’. ■

6. 充满未知的领域

虽然我们的生物技术数据库在过去二三十年间已经大为扩展，但我们仍然面临着许多长期的未知数。如果我们修改一个人的基因来治疗疾病，会发生什么？如果我们大幅改造作物基因，使其能够生长在通常不长作物的地方，会对环境有什么影响？如果每一个作用力都有一个对等的反作用力，那么子孙后代可能会为我们今天正在进行的研究付出代价。

7. 它把人的生命变成一种商品

在美国，最高法院裁定，经实验室合成的DNA有资格获得专利。这项裁决的根据是，被修改过的DNA序列是在自然界中遍寻不着的。目前，互补DNA（或称cDNA）已被特别提及，作为可以申请专利的一个例子。这样的DNA以及经过修改的DNA序列可出售谋利，它们的取得引发了许多有关人类生命的伦理问题。这也凸显出，意图用人的生命赚钱，就如同“扮演无所不能的神”，是不道德的。 □