你能理解这段英文吗和读完后你是如何想的？

蒋继平

2014年7月1日

今天写这篇博文是因为两个没有预料到的事件，一个是科学网由赵斌教授写的置顶博文[转基因大豆与非转基因大豆并非“实质等同”]（1）， 另一个是我现在所在的美国Florida 州 Hendry县的农技站主任今天给我的电邮。 这两个事件都涉及到转基因和食品安全的话题。我本来真的不愿意参与这样的讨论， 但是， 由于这个话题关系到几乎每个人的日常生活， 更是奋斗在农业生物领域的科技人员无法违避的话题， 因而， 我放弃了原来打算发表的另一篇博文（推迟到以后再发），来给科学网和赵斌教授凑个热闹。

我现在将这个美国县农技站主任的电邮原始不动的照发如下。我不对它进行任何翻译。 这是因为原始的材料更能反映出它的真实信息。 要是你能读懂这段英文， 能从这段文字中看出美国社会目前对转基因的态度是什么吗？

顺便说一下， 这个农技站负责人是一个坚定的挺转分子， 他一直非常支持转基因的研究和食品推广。 知道了这个背景， 读者们可以更加容易理解文中反映的美国社会对待转基因食品态度的实况。

还需要进一步说明的是， 读者们能否从文中的信息分析得到自己的结论，美国人到底对转基因食品不在乎吗？ 美国人是放心吃转基因食品的吗？ 坚持说转基因食品是安全的是那些人？是不是专门从事转基因研究的极少数几个教授， 他们希望得到研究经费？

希望读者们根据对这个电邮的理解发表自己的看法。

Hope this finds you well.

This may be of interest.

Genetically modified foodsface hurdles

By Jeff Schweers

Staff writer

Gainesville Sun

June 29, 2014

University of Floridaresearchers are making significant advances in genetic engineering — breedingstrawberries, papayas and tomatoes that are disease-resistant and growingplants that produce larger yields.

But their work is notdestined for commercialization, due to a lack of financial backing and interestin getting these products through all the regulations necessary to put them onthe path to the local supermarket and our dinner tables.

Public opinion is having adetrimental effect on research, scientists say, because growers in Floridadon't want to invest the millions it would take to push GMOs — short forgenetically modified organisms — through the federal regulatory process forfear the public won't buy them.

“People are afraid, theydon't understand why, they are just told they should be” afraid of geneticallyengineered products, said Sam Hutton, a plant scientist specializing in tomatogenetics at the Gulf Research and Education Center in Wimauma, located east ofInterstate 75 between Tampa and Bradenton. “The anti-GMO crowd screams reallyloud, and there is a lot of fear mongering. It sounds bad to people who don'tunderstand the science.”

Very few of the wholefoods that consumers buy are genetically modified. Less than 1 percent ofgenetically modified foods are eaten whole, some sweet corn, papaya and squash,scientists say.

The bulk of geneticallymodified foods — 75 percent — are corn and soybean crops used in livestockfeed, researchers say. Some genetically modified crops are used to makeindustrial chemicals as well — starch, high fructose corn syrup, lecithin,vegetable oil and protein extracts that go into the processed foods that arecolorfully packaged and found in the center aisles of the neighborhood grocerystore.

None of the geneticallymodified corn or soybeans are grown in Florida, scientists say.

“We don't have muchgenetically modified acreage in Florida,” said Kevin Folta, professor andchairman of UF's Horticultural Sciences Department.

Folta recently organizedand conducted a seminar on genetic engineering or transgenics to dispelmisperceptions about genetic modification.

The speakers at theseminar, which was held in Emerson Alumni Hall at UF, addressed their commentsto an audience of about 60 — most of them fellow researchers and graduatestudents. Folta was well aware they were preaching to the choir.

“The people that need tolearn about this aren't interested in hearing about science,” Folta said. “Theyhave their Dr. Oz's and Jeffrey Smith, the guy who makes a fortune selling fearon this topic.”

Smith is an educator,executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology and author ofthe books “Seeds of Deception” and “Genetic Roulette — The Gamble of OurLives,” which was made into a movie.

Smith argues thatcompanies like Monsanto and Dow are deceptive and that they forced the Food andDrug Administration to allow GMOs to be placed in food products withoutrequiring labeling. While he's considered by the organic food community as anexpert on genetically modified foods, he has no scientific training orbackground.

A lot of traditionalbreeding is going on at UF and its research centers around the state. UF iswell-known as a breeding institution for plants and food crops. Only theUniversity of California, Davis is better known, experts say.

“We have tons, literallyhundreds and hundreds of ornamental and food crops come through UF for use inthe industry,” Folta said.

To a much lesser degree,UF researchers are exploring genetic engineering as another tool to help combatdisease and pests, increase yield, use fewer resources and lessen the impact onthe environment.

For example, UF scientistsin Homestead have been working for years on genetically re-engineering papayato make it resistant to a particular Florida virus. “Growers would like to useit, but the deregulation is extremely expensive and time-consuming,” Foltasaid.

There are geneticsolutions that look good for combating citrus greening, a disease that haswiped out $4.5 billion in citrus plants and threatens the $9 billion statecitrus industry. But it's a good 10 years before such solutions are fullytested and regulated, and thus they become extremely expensive, Folta said.

Folta's lab hassuccessfully shown that genetic engineering can create a robust strawberry thatcan be grown without fungicides. “We are not even going to considerderegulating because of the cost,” he said. “And the industry doesn't want anypublic backlash.”

Someday when thetechnology is widely accepted, people may refer back to Folta's research andcreate genetically modified strawberries. “Right now there is no interest inthe science, there is no fortitude in pushing against public opinion, and thecost is really high,” he said.

Battling public opinion isone of the biggest frustrations for public university scientists, Folta said.

“You have solutions thatcan help the environment, help farmers and help people in the developing world,and you can't use it,” Folta said.

Public perception has“shut down the release of improved plant varieties around the world using thistechnology,” said Dennis Gray, a professor at UF's Mid-Florida Research andEducation Center in Apopka.

“The only ones that cancome out are the ones companies can spend several millions of dollars goingthrough the regulatory process,” Gray said. “Universities have tons of stuff onthe shelf that can never see the light of day.”

There's also amisperception that agricultural research is corporate-funded, Folta said.

Only 3 percent of UF'sagricultural research is corporate-funded, with 97 percent coming from stateand federal government grants, Folta said. That 3 percent is coming fromFlorida fertilizer companies, vegetable and seed companies, and other businessinterests related to agricultural farming in Florida, Folta added.

And they're not going torisk their money developing products that consumers won't buy, he said.

Breeding new varieties offruit and vegetables the old-fashioned way, the way farmers have done for10,000 years, doesn't require a deregulatory process. But a crop of geneticallyaltered fruit must pass through all levels of regulation to ensure its safetyto the public.

That regulation processtakes years and can cost millions of dollars — money that would have to comefrom private investors who are worried about how the public will react to agenetically modified fruit or vegetable.

“Each new GM crop issubject to a five- to 10-year regulatory process that costs $5 million to $10million, and then you have to do a food safety evaluation,” said Bruce Chassy,professor emeritus in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

“When white-robedscientists go into a lab, start messing with DNA and assure us everything isunder control and dinosaurs don't escape, they need to ensure that no harm isdone,” Chassy said.

For instance, UF has spentthe last decade developing a tomato that requires less use of antimicrobial andantifungal compounds. It's called the BS2 tomato and is being funded by the TwoBlades Foundation, a nonprofit corporation committed to finding long-lastingdisease resistance in food crops, better plant health and a safer environment.

Hutton has been involvedwith this research for the last three of those 10 years. The research involvestaking a gene called the BS2 gene found in bell peppers that makes the peppersresistant to bacterial spot and transferring it into tomatoes, Hutton said.

Bacterial spot is a hugeproblem for tomato growers, Hutton said. There is no effective method forfighting it and it reduces growers' yield, which they chalk up as the cost ofdoing business.

Scientists cloned the BS2gene — which people have been eating for decades in green peppers. Two Bladeslicensed the use of that gene, and UF researchers are using gene-alteringtechnology to put the BS2 gene into a tomato, Hutton said.

“We engineered plants tohave this protein in it, and now it is resistant to this disease,” Hutton said.

With the GMO in thetomato, the plants are disease-free, he said. Not only that, he said, butthey've doubled the yield because of the BS2 gene.

Yet, deregulation andcommercialization is still years away, and they need investors.

One potential source wouldbe the Florida tomato growers, Hutton said. They are interested but reluctantbecause they fear they would not be able to sell a GMO product.

“You're talking abouttomatoes. I imagine that is a vegetable or fruit people are most passionateabout,” he said. “There would be a big risk with this. Would people buy a GMOtomato?”

Hutton is optimistic thatscientists can change public opinion over time.

“I'm hoping that witheducation and a different way of approaching this, we can get peopleinterested,” he said. “We want to take a more humble approach, explain thisprotein came out of bell pepper, that it's nothing different than what you'reeating in the pepper.”

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20140629/ARTICLES/140629633

All the best.

Gene

Gene McAvoy

County Extension Director

Regional Vegetable AgentIV

UF/IFAS Hendry CountyExtension

PO Box 68

LaBelle, Florida 33975

863-674-4092 office

863-673-5939 cell

gmcavoy@ifas.ufl.edu

1. http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-502444-808261.html