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  3. "Junk science" is how Elliot Morley, Britain’s minister responsible for genetically modified farming, describes studies that cla

"Junk science" is how Elliot Morley, Britain’s minister responsible for genetically modified farming, describes studies that cla

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问题     "Junk science" is how Elliot Morley, Britain’s minister responsible for genetically modified farming, describes studies that claim GM crops would be hazardous to Britain’s wildlife and consumers. This week the government granted permission for a strain of GM maize to be grown commercially as cattle feed. That has incensed environmentalists and organic farmers, who say GM is unpopular (probably correct) and based on bad science (probably not).
    Three years of field testing have shown the herbicide-resistant maize, Bayer’s Chardon LL, to be safe and even kinder to the environment than non-GM maize. Two other crops on trial—a GM sugar-beet and a GM oilseed rape—will not be grown because they were worse for biodiversity (weeds) than conventional strains.
    The trials have not made the worries about introducing even a safe GM crop go away, though. Opponents say GM will stealthily take over the country by cross-pollination, will damage wildlife and introduce something nasty into the human food chain. How solid is all this?
    Evidence from America, which planted 105.7m acres of biotech crops in 2003, suggests concerns are overblown. In practice it is easy to separate crops and prevent them from cross-pollinating. Even oilseed rape, which is particularly promiscuous, can be kept over 99％ pure if it is a hundred metres away from another plantation. Cross-pollination probably will happen, but so far it has caused no problems: genetic material in plants changes all the time through sexual reproduction anyway.
    Damage to wildlife is difficult to measure, but there is evidence that GM has had a positive effect, with birds and insects returning to GM cotton plantations in America. Certainly, GM crops tend to need fewer chemicals to protect them. Monsanto says its sugarbeet, which was on trial along with the Chardon maize, requires 46％ less herbicide than a conventional strain. Supposed threats to consumers, whether human or animal, are the most flaky. One recent study appeared to show that Chardon maize could be fatal to cattle, but the heifer in question in fact died from botulism. The British Medical Association now says there is "very little potential for GM foods to cause harmful health effects" in people either. People have been eating the stuff in America for years, with no ill effects so far.
    The messing around with genetic material that makes some people dislike GM crops has gone on for years in conventional plant breeding, where crops are exposed to radiation and chemicals to encourage them to mutate. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, over 2,000 types of crop have been bombarded with gamma rays to produce mutants, many of which are grown by organic farmers.
    "All food is frankenfood," according to Professor Howard Dalton, chief scientific adviser to the Department for Food and Rural Affairs, "but everybody’s got used to it. " Maybe everybody will get used to GM soon, too.
According to the author, conventional crop breeding has
选项 A、been for a long time exposed to radiation.
B、proved much safer than GM crop breeding.
C、never been messed around with genetic material.
D、produced no ill effects on people so far.
答案C
解析 细节题。题目问的是“作者认为传统植物种植________”。根据文章倒数第三段倒数第二句可知，转基因食物对人类健康造成危害的风险很小，可以排除B项：传统作物比转基因种植更安全。根据文章倒数第三段最后一句可知，美国人食用转基因食物多年，但目前都没有出现疾病状况，可以排除D项，因为D项表述是关于转基因食物的。再根据文章倒数第二段第一句话可知，在传统植物种植上，由于转基因食物与基因物质的结合而使得一些人不喜欢转基因植物的事情持续了多年。而为了促使植物成熟，传统植物不得不暴露于辐射与化学物质之中。因此可以得出C项正确，而A项错在“for a long time”，在文章中没有出处。故选C。
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