VOA慢速英语2014 受污染药物导致印度人死亡

 

AS IT IS 2014-12-03 Indian Deaths Blamed on Tainted¹ Drugs 受污染药物导致印度人死亡

Laboratory tests have confirmed that tainted drugs killed at least 13 women and sickened many others at a government-operated camp in India. The drugs were given to the women after doctors performed an operation to prevent them from having children.

The incident raises questions about the custom of performing such operations at health camps.

Amar Agrawal is the health minister in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. He says the antibiotic² drug ciprocin was given to women who had the sterilization³ treatments earlier this month. He says the drug contained zinc⁴ phosphide – a chemical commonly used in rat poison.

Many of the patients felt sick to the stomach. They started vomiting⁵ and reported severe pain after they went home and took the medicine. In the following days, at least 13 women died and many others became extremely sick.

The state government has taken legal action against the local drug company that supplied the antibiotic used at the camp. The owner and his son were arrested on fraud charges.

D.G Shah is secretary general of the Indian Pharmaceutical⁶ Association. He says the tragedy calls attention to the need for increased government regulation of small companies. He says such businesses sometimes do not adhere to good manufacturing practices -- what he called GMT. 

“They supply to one district or at the most one state or three, four states. They are not national players. And they are governed by the state drug commissioner⁷. Though on paper they say everybody is complying, they do not comply and as it has been reported in this case, in spite of poor GMT standards, the state drug commissioner had not taken adequate action for closure of this unit. The only positive side of this incident we see is that it might act as a wake-up call.”

The tragedy has also turned attention to the custom of performing mass sterilizations at government-run camps. The Indian government supports use of such operations as a way to control population growth. India is home to 1.25 billion people. It is the second most populous⁸ country in the world.

At the camps, doctors operate on large numbers of patients, although the government denies there is any use of force. Women are offered a monetary⁹ incentive¹⁰ of about $10 to have their fallopian tubes removed. The operation is called a tubectomy.

Voluntary groups have raised concerns about India’s sterilization program. They say Indian women are not given enough information about other methods of contraception, or birth control, by state health workers. They add that the workers are often under pressure to line up women to have tubectomies.

Other questions have also been raised about the conditions in which the sterilizations are performed. Nibedita Phukan is with the Center for Health and Social Justice, a group based in New Delhi.

“These camps, they never adhere to those guidelines, actually. We have seen lot of camps, Rajasthan, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, UP (Uttar Pradesh). If you go through the guidelines, you cannot operate any women after 4 o’clock and per day not more than 35 women. Everything has been violated in the mass sterilization camps.”

About four and a half million women were sterilized¹² in India in the year that ended in March 2013. Observers say the latest tragedy will put the government under pressure to reconsider population control methods.

Words in This Story

sterilize¹¹ – v. to make (someone) unable to reproduce

severe - adj. causing a lot of physical pain or suffering

substandard - adj. below what is considered standard, normal or acceptable

adhere to - v. to stick to something: to attach firmly to something

incentive – n. something that encourages a person to do something

contraception – n. things that are done to prevent a woman from becoming pregnant

1 tainted   

adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏

参考例句：

• The administration was tainted with scandal. 丑闻使得政府声名狼藉。
• He was considered tainted by association with the corrupt regime. 他因与腐败政府有牵连而名誉受损。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 antibiotic   

adj.抗菌的；n.抗生素

参考例句：

• The doctor said that I should take some antibiotic.医生说我应该服些用抗生素。
• Antibiotic can be used against infection.抗菌素可以用来防止感染。

3 sterilization   

n.杀菌，绝育；灭菌

参考例句：

• Sterilization by filtration is subject to one major theoretical limitation. 过滤灭菌具有一个理论上的局限性。 来自辞典例句
• Sterilization is a treatment that frees the treated object of all living organisms. 灭菌处理是从处理对象排除一切生活的生物。 来自辞典例句

4 zinc   

n.锌；vt.在...上镀锌

参考例句：

• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
• Zinc is used to protect other metals from corrosion.锌被用来保护其他金属不受腐蚀。

5 vomiting   

吐

参考例句：

• Symptoms include diarrhoea and vomiting. 症状有腹泻和呕吐。
• Especially when I feel seasick, I can't stand watching someone else vomiting." 尤其晕船的时候，看不得人家呕。”

6 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

7 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

8 populous   

adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的

参考例句：

• London is the most populous area of Britain.伦敦是英国人口最稠密的地区。
• China is the most populous developing country in the world.中国是世界上人口最多的发展中国家。

9 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

10 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

11 sterilize   

vt.使不结果实；使绝育；使无效；杀菌，消毒

参考例句：

• Antiseptic is used to sterilize the skin before giving an injection.杀菌剂被用于在注射前给皮肤消毒。
• He pricks the blister on his heel with a sterilize needle.他用一根消过毒的针扎破他脚后跟上的水泡。

12 sterilized   

v.消毒( sterilize的过去式和过去分词 )；使无菌；使失去生育能力；使绝育

参考例句：

• My wife was sterilized after the birth of her fourth child. 我妻子生完第4个孩子后做了绝育手术。 来自辞典例句
• All surgical instruments must be sterilized before use. 所有的外科手术器械在使用之前，必须消毒。 来自辞典例句