268 The Biotech Industry, Agree or Disagree
268 转基因工程，赞成还是反对
Supporters of the biotech industry have accused an American scientist of misconduct after she testified to the New Zealand government that a genetically modified(GM) bacterium could cause serious damage if released.
一位美国科学家向新西兰政府证实，有一种转基因细菌如果被释放的话可能会造成严重破坏。为此，生物工程的支持者们指责她行为不当。
The New Zealand Life Sciences Network, an association of pro-GM scientists and organizations, says the view expressed by Elaine Ingham, a soil biologist at Oregon State University in Corvallis, was exaggerated and irresponsible. It has asked her university to discipline her.
新西兰生命科学网是一个由推崇转基因技术的科学家和机构组成的协会，该协会认为由位于科瓦利斯的俄勒冈州立大学的土壤生物学家伊莱恩·英格汉姆所说的观点言过其实，而且不负责任。该协会已经请求英格汉姆所在的大学对她进行惩罚。
But Ingham stands by her comments and says the complaints are an attempt to silence her. "They're trying to cause trouble with my university and get me fired," Ingham told New Scientist.
但是英格汉姆坚持她的观点，并说那些抱怨只是在企图压制她的言论。她告诉《新科学家》：“他们企图在我的大学制造麻烦，让我被解雇。”
The controversy began on 1 February, when Ingham testified before New Zealand's Royal Commission on Genetic Modification, which will determine how to regulate GM organisms. Ingham claimed that a GM version of a common soil bacterium could spread and destroy plants if released into the wild. Other researchers had previously modified the bacterium to produce alcohol from organic waste. But Ingham says that when she put it in soil with wheat plants, all of the plants died within a week.
这场争论开始于2月1日，那时英格汉姆向新西兰转基因，皇家委员会论证她的观点，而这个委员会决定如何管理使用转基因有机物。英格汉姆声称，一种普通的土壤细菌经过基因改变之后，如果释放到野生环境中可以传播开来，并且对植物造成破坏。有一些研究者以前曾通过对这种细菌进行基因改造，用有机废物来生产酒精一但是英格汉姆说，当她把这种转基因细菌放人种植了小麦的土壤中时，所有的植物都在一周内死了。
"We would lose terrestrial plants... this is an organism that is potentially deadly to the continued survival of human beings," she told the commission. She added that the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) canceled its approval for field tests using the organism once she had told them about her research in 1999.
她告诉委员会：“我们会失去陆生植物……这是一种对人类的持续生存有着潜在的致命威胁的有机物。”她还补充说道，1999年，当她把她的研究结果告知美国环境保护局之后，他们马上撤回了对使用该有机物进行现场试验的批复。
But last week the New Zealand Life Sciences Network accused Ingham of "presenting inaccurate, careless and exaggerated information" and "generating speculative doomsday scenarios that are not scientifically supportable". They say that her study doesn't even show that the bacteria would survive in the wild, much less kill massive numbers of plants. What's more, the network says that contrary to Ingham's claims, the EPA. was never asked to consider the organism for field trials.
但是上周新西兰生命科学家网指责英格汉姆“提出了不准确的，草率的，言过其实的信息。”并且“编造了毫无科学根据的，臆想的世界末日的局面”，他们说，她的研究甚至连该细菌是否能在野生环境中生存下来都说明不了，更不用说会杀死大量的植物。而且，新西兰生命科学家网说，与英格汉姆的声明相反，美国环境保护局从来没有被要求去考虑用哪种有机物进行现场试验。
The EPA has not commented on the dispute. But an e-mail to the network from Janet Anderson, director of the EPA's bio pesticides division, says "there is no record of a review and/or clearance to field test".
美国环境保护局还没有对这些争论发表任何评论。但是来自美国环境保护局生物杀虫剂部门主管珍妮特·安德森发给生命科学网的一封电子邮件里说，“没有记录表明要求审批或者取消（对这种有机物的）现场试验。”
Ingham says EPA officials had told her that the organism was approved for field tests, but says she has few details. It's also not clear whether the organism, first engineered by a German institute for biotechnology, is still in use.
英格汉姆说美国环境保护局的官员告诉她这种有机物被批准：遗行现场试验．但她又说对此也知之不详，而且也不楚这种由一家德国生物技术机构最先培养的有机物是否仍然被使用。
Whether Ingham is right or wrong, her supporters say opponents are trying unfairly to silence her.
无论英格汉姆是对是错，她的支持者们说反对派在试图以不公正的方法压制她的言论。
"I think her concerns should be taken seriously. She shouldn't be harassed in this way," says Ann Clarke, a plant biologist at the University of Guelph in Canada who also testified before the commission. "It's an attempt to silence the opposition."
“我认为她的观点应该被认真地对待。她不应该受到这样的攻击。”加拿大奎尔夫大学植物学家安·克拉如此说道，而且安·克拉本人也在新西兰转基因皇家委员会面前作证。“这是在企图压制反对者的言论。”