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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 根据文章第六段第一句“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. ”可知，那些青睐传统种植方式的人认为，在射线和化学物质的作用下，转基因作物的遗传物质容易发生改变，所以相比较而言，种植传统的作物不易出现遗传物质混乱的情况。暴露在射线中的是转基因作物而不是传统作物，故排除A项。有研究表明有些转基因作物存在不安全性，但并不表示传统的农作物就比转基因作物更安全，故排除B项。文中只提到，到目前为止转基因作物并未对人类产生负面影响，并未提到传统的农作物的影响，故排除D项。因此选C。
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