耐心、耐心地看完

美猴王

对于科学家的指控，孟山都公司是这样回应的：“在1991年的时候，‘实质等同性原则’这一概念在一个由‘经济合作与发展组织(OECD)’所召开的国际科学专家会议上制定了细节。那是早在生物工程产品还没有上市之前的事情了。”
To these charges, Monsanto responded: "The concept of substantial equivalence was elaborated by international scientific and regulatory experts convened by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1991, well before any biotechnology products were ready for market."

孟山都公司这个回应，在表面上是反驳一项指责，实际上它是把这件事处理成一项监管性事务了。“实质上等同”显然需要在孟山都公司的转基因产品上市之前提出。这是为它的转基因食品全球化商业所做的一项政策准备。我们都己看见：在世界上任何一个地方，只要接受了“实质等同性”原则，转基因食品市场销售的准入合法性便顺理成章地办妥了。当“实质性等同”被世界采纳时，孟山都公司已经种出大量转基因农产品，不失时机地把它们包装起来推向市场了。
This response is less a rebuttal than a testimonial to Monsanto's prowess at handling regulatory affairs. Of course the term was established before any products were ready for the market. Doing so was a prerequisite to the global commercialization of GM crops. It created a legal framework for selling GM foods anywhere in the world that substantial equivalence was accepted. By the time substantial equivalence was adopted, Monsanto had already developed numerous GM crops and was actively grooming them for market.

美猴王

拥有34个成员国的经济合作与发展组织(OECD)，主要是发达、富裕、以白人为主的国家,而且是“亲”大公司的。这个组织有一个使命，把经济发展推延到世界上的每一个角落。在这项使命的推进当中，OECD的确为孟山都公司向全球推广“实质性等同”助了一臂之力。
The OECD's 34 member nations could be described as largely rich, white, developed, and sympathetic to big business. The group's current mission is to spread economic development to the rest of the world. And while the mission has yet to be accomplished, OECD has helped Monsanto spread substantial equivalence globally.

许多转基因食品的支持者喜欢说：如果必须测试转基因食品的毒性，那么对世界上的全部食品都应该做毒性测试。
Many GM fans will point out that if we do toxicity tests on GM foods, we should also have to do toxicity testing on every other kind of food in the world.

可是，现有一切食物植物的毒性？——测试早就做完了。我们做了几千年艰难的测试，我们试尝陌生的植物，导致有人死亡、或者濒临死亡。我们就是这样学会的识别有毒植物。我们每一个人都在以一生的时间不断地确认，我们究竟会对哪些食物过敏。
But we've already done the testing on the existing plants. We tested them the hard way, by eating strange things and dying, or almost dying, over thousands of years. That's how we've figured out which plants are poisonous. And over the course of each of our lifetimes we've learned which foods we're allergic to.

美猴王

我们食用的一切非转基因的或杂交品种的植物，它们的遗传特性都包容在各自的父母亲本中，而它们的基因足够相似，以使它们能够通过固有的交配方式、嫁接方式甚至人工受精（试管）方式，繁育和它们自己相似的后代。
All of the non-GM breeds and hybrid species that we eat have been shaped by the genetic variability offered by parents whose genes were similar enough that they could mate, graft, or test tube baby their way to an offspring that resembled them.

给我吃一颗转入了鱼类基因的土豆？且慢。对我来说，那是一种新型植物，需要做测试。今天的科学是多么的新奇；新植物有没有有毒、会不会造成过敏，我们可不能用老掉牙的方法去察看它。
A tomato with fish genes? Not so much. That, to me, is a new plant and it should be tested. We shouldn't have to figure out if it's poisonous or allergenic the old fashioned way, especially in light of how new-fangled the science is.

时光流转，物换星移。承认眼前的事实吧：改写转基因知识蓝本的时刻已经到来！基因系统的复杂性超过我们的监管系统千百倍，比制定这些规则的公司更复杂千百倍。
It's time to re-write the rules to acknowledge how much more complicated genetic systems are than the legal regulations -- and the corporations that have written them -- give credit.

美猴王

孟山都公司说“测试转基因食品对人类健康的安全性，既没必要也没有价值”，无助于提升该公司的公众形象。应该承认，食品安全性测试很不好做，因为没有哪一个人愿意，去吃一盘转基因玉米，只是为了证明转基因食品对人类健康有害，或者无害？真正的问题是：孟山都公司把RNA（核糖核酸）干扰原理用于杀虫了，而那个能致死昆虫的生物学机理，在人类身上也是同样存在的。这样的话，在实验室先做个安全测试，就是十分必要的了。
Monsanto isn't doing itself any PR favors by claiming "no need for, or value in testing the safety of GM foods in humans." Admittedly, such testing can be difficult to construct -- who really wants to volunteer to eat a bunch of GM corn just to see what happens? At the same time, if companies like Monsanto want to use processes like RNA interference to make plants that can kill insects via genetic pathways that might resemble our own, some kind of testing has to happen.

应该从这里开始：测试异源DNA被插入后导致的其他后果，如miRNA，而不是仅限于那块预期的“比萨饼”。但是在孟山都公司网站上，我们看到的却是：
A good place to start would be the testing of introduced DNA for other effects -- miRNA-mediated or otherwise -- beyond the specific proteins they code for. But the status quo, according to Monsanto's website, is:

美猴王

“对转基因农作物中的外源DNA不必做安全性测试。因为所有的食物中都有DNA（以及相应的RNA）。DNA自身是无毒的、在植物中也无毒，不会构成威胁。”
There is no need to test the safety of DNA introduced into GM crops. DNA (and resulting RNA) is present in almost all foods. DNA is non-toxic and the presence of DNA, in and of itself, presents no hazard.

在我们已知的事实目前，孟山都公司太傲慢了。时间将会证明，它这个行为太过轻率。
Given what we know, that stance is arrogant. Time will tell if it's reckless.

    有很多可用的测试方法，可以分析RNAs是否会不小心“敲掉”人类的某些基因。我们真心希望孟山都公司会做这样的检测。不过，既然孟山都公司连贴转基因食品的标签都不干，显然它想要的就是让你闭上眼睛、张开嘴巴，乖乖地咽下它的转基因“安全”食品。
There are computational methods of investigating whether unintended RNAs are likely to be knocking down any human genes. But thanks to this position, the best we can do is hope they're using them. Given it's opposition to the labeling of GM foods as well, it seems clear that Monsanto wants you to close your eyes, open your mouth, and swallow.

美猴王

此时此刻，孟山都公司应该做的事情，是如实公告，它对转基因食品安全性所知很少。DNA编码不仅可以合成蛋白质，更有相当多未知功能。RNA的功能很复性，不是当年发现DNA/RNA结构的沃森和克拉克两位科学家所能想象的。
It's time for Monsanto to acknowledge that there's more to DNA than the proteins it codes for -- even if it's for no other reason than the fact that RNA alone is a lot more complicated that Watson and Crick could ever have imagined.
Image: Dirk Ercken/Shutterstock.

九子溪水

怎么办啊?

早雪

对这东西没研究，不过，内心抵制。

山人

很恐怖！很抵制！据说美国的转基因玉米是用来做工业原料的。

蛮雨

谁又能扭转它的局面了...