VOA标准英语2009年-New Drive to Fight World Hunger With GM Cr

By Selah Hennessy
London
21 October 2009

 
A genetically² modified corn plant (file photo)
Britain's national academy of science is calling for a multi-billion-dollar research program on global food security. The Royal Society says genetically modified plants should be an essential tool for feeding the world by 2050, but activists³ object that GM foods destroy the livelihood⁴ of small-scale farmers.

Britain's Royal Society has released a report looking at how science and technology can be used to fight a food shortage it says is expected to hit the globe by 2050.

A Royal Society research team member, Jules Pretty, says the team took into account a number of changes that are expected in coming decades, such as climate change, massive rises in world population, and new consumption patterns.

"When you put that all together it suggest that we are going to need something like 50 percent more, perhaps 100 percent more, food from our existing land and that is a very significant challenge and we believe we need to be thinking seriously about that right away," said Pretty.

The Royal Society says farmers will have to grow improved crop varieties to meet growing food demands. It calls for genetic¹ improvement of crops through conventional plant breeding and through direct genetic modification⁵ of crops.

Pretty says the Royal Society is not giving blanket support for GM foods, but says GM crops should be looked at on a case-by-case basis.

He says because GM crops can be designed to be resistant⁶ to insects and disease they may also be better for the environment. He highlights the example of potato blight⁷, a common pest that can destroy crops.

"At the moment typically farmers will apply 12 [applications] of fungicide each season to potatoes, which means driving your tractor up and down 12 times and using an awful lot of fungicide," said Pretty. "Now if that GM potato is effective and works then the environmental impact will be substantially less because the chemicals are not being used and there will be less fossil fuel use."

But Britain and many other European countries have resisted the introduction of GM food crops.

Kirtana Chandrasekaran is from the environmental group Friends of the Earth. She says a four-year scientific study initiated⁸ by the World Bank says there is little role for genetic modification in feeding the poor on a large scale.

She says genetic modification is hugely expensive and patent heavy, which means the industry is dominated by large multi-national corporations.

"You have seen massive evidence of huge social impacts in South America, farmers, up to 90,000 farmers, being displaced from their land in places like Paraguay because of the advent⁹ of massive GM intensive mono cultures, urban poverty increasing, food security has decreased all across the southern corner of Latin America dramatically over the last decade," said Chandrasekaran.

She says Africa has by and large resisted GM crops because it does not benefit poor farmers.

She says for developing countries to improve their crop output, investment needs to be made in promoting traditional farming techniques.

"You have traditional knowledge which has existed for hundreds of years, which is absolutely being starved of any kind of policy support or funding because governments seem so obsessed¹⁰ with genetic modification," said Chandrasekaran.

The United Nations has predicted the world's population will reach nine billion by 2050.

The Royal Society is calling for the British government to contribute around $3 billion to fund the research into science that improves crops and sustainable crop management.

Anti-GM forces in Britain have successfully destroyed many field trials of GM crops. Their campaign has led some scientists to give up GM research and others to call for the British government to carry out trials at secure or secret sites.  

1 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

2 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物

3 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 livelihood   

n.生计，谋生之道

参考例句：

• Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
• My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。

5 modification   

n.修改，改进，缓和，减轻

参考例句：

• The law,in its present form,is unjust;it needs modification.现行的法律是不公正的，它需要修改。
• The design requires considerable modification.这个设计需要作大的修改。

6 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

7 blight   

n.枯萎病；造成破坏的因素；vt.破坏，摧残

参考例句：

• The apple crop was wiped out by blight.枯萎病使苹果全无收成。
• There is a blight on all his efforts.他的一切努力都遭到挫折。

8 initiated   

n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入

参考例句：

• He has not yet been thoroughly initiated into the mysteries of computers. 他对计算机的奥秘尚未入门。
• The artist initiated the girl into the art world in France. 这个艺术家介绍这个女孩加入巴黎艺术界。

9 advent   

n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临

参考例句：

• Swallows come by groups at the advent of spring. 春天来临时燕子成群飞来。
• The advent of the Euro will redefine Europe.欧元的出现将重新定义欧洲。

10 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。