首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Cancer and Chemicals Last year, California governor George Deukmejian called together many of the state’s best scientific minds
Cancer and Chemicals Last year, California governor George Deukmejian called together many of the state’s best scientific minds
admin
2013-08-12
60
问题
Cancer and Chemicals
Last year, California governor George Deukmejian called together many of the state’s best scientific minds to begin implementing Proposition 65, the state’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act. This new law bans industries from discharging chemical suspected of causing cancer(carcinogens)or birth defects into water supplies. Some claim it will also require warning labels on everything that might cause cancer.
A day of esoteric science and incomprehensible jargon was predicted. But Bruce Ames, Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of California at Berkeley, had plans to liven the proceedings. Walking into the room, Ames looked like the quintessential scientist: wire-rimmed bifocals, rumpled suit, tousled hair and a sallow complexion that showed he spent more time in his laboratory than in the California sunshine. As someone intoned about the mechanisms of carcinogenesis, Ames began to interject his own views. "The whole world is chock—full of carcinogens," Ames declared. "A beer, with its 700 parts per billion of formaldehyde and five parts per 100 of alcohol is a thousand times more hazardous than anything in the water. If you have beer on your breath, does that mean you have to warn everyone who comes within ten feet of you?" In an era when headlines shout about the latest cancer scare, Ames has a different message: the levels of most man-made carcinogens are generally so low that any danger is trivial compared with the levels of natural carcinogens.
Ames is not a quack. At age 59, he is one of the nation’s most respected authorities on carcinogenesis.
But Ames slaughters sacred cows. He’s taking on the environmental movement, which some have called the single most important social movement of the 20th century. Based on animal tests of nearly 1 000 chemicals, the data show that daily consumption of the average peanut-butter sandwich, which contains traces of aflatoxin(a naturally occurring mold carcinogen in peanuts), is 100 times more dangerous than our daily intake of DDT from food, and that a glass of the most polluted well water in the Silicon Valley is 1 000 times less of cancer risk than a glass of wine or beer is. He’s not advising people to stop consuming peanut-butter, beer and wine. What he’s saying is that most cancer risks created by man are
trivial
compared with everyday natural risks, and it’s not clear how many of these are real risks. Both types distract attention from such enormous risk factors as tobacco.
(A)
Ames’s cancer research began about 25 years ago over a bag of potato chips.(B)
It struck him that no one knew what each chemical did to human genes, and there was no easy way to find out.(C)
At that time, scientists testing for carcinogenicity had to set up time-consuming and costly lab experiments on rats and mice.(D)
Armed with the knowledge that bacteria are sensitive to substances that cause mutation, and that carcinogens were likely to be mutagens, Ames developed a carcinogen test using bacteria. The Ames test was hailed as a major scientific development and is now used worldwide.
One day in 1974, Ames, now teaching at Berkeley, suggested that some students test various household products. To his surprise, many common hair dyes tested positive, as did a flame retardant used in children’s pajamas, Almost overnight, Ames became a hero of environmentalists when his findings led to new regulations and bans on certain chemicals. For the next decade public concern over carcinogens continued to rise. In fact, about half of all chemicals tested by Ames— both natural and man-made—turned out to be potentially carcinogenic when given in enormous dose to rats and mice. Ames at first assumed he had
erred
with his test. He hadn’t. His error had been making the common, but naive, assumption that only man-made chemicals could be dangerous. "Why assume nature is benign?" he now says. The campaign supporting California’s Proposition 65 convinced Ames that he had a duty to explain this to the public.
Some people assume Ames is a stooge for the chemical industry, which he is not. He does no consulting for the chemical, drug or food companies, or for law firms. And he accepted no grants from business.
Environmentalists reject Ames’s arguments, saying that we are obligated to keep the total exposure to carcinogens as low as possible. "Somehow he thinks there has to be a choice," says Carl Pope of the Sierra Club. "If we had to choose between TCE [a suspected cancer-causing solvent] in drinking water and public education on cigarette smoking, maybe he’s right. But we don’t have to make a choice. "
According to the passage, environmentalists’ argument against Ames is that______.
选项
A、Ames is a stooge for the chemical industry because he thinks there has to be a choice.
B、Ames does consulting for the chemical drug and food companies and law firms.
C、Ames has erred in supposing that people have to make a choice between cancer risks.
D、More attention should be paid to TCE in drinking water than public education of cigarette smoking.
答案
C
解析
本题也是事实信息题。题目问:环保主义者反对Ames的论点是什么?根据第八段第二句“Somehow he thinks there has to be a choice”可以推导出正确答案为选项C,因为他的观点就是我们必须在天然(致癌)物质和人工(致癌)物质之间进行选择,而环保主义者认为“Butwe don’t have to make a choice”。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/h6fO777K
0
托福(TOEFL)
相关试题推荐
Thelecturersaysthatanessayislike______toaspecificquestion.Lookatdivorcestatistics.
Labelthemap.Chooseyouranswersfromtheboxbelow.WritetheappropriatelettersA-Eonthemap.AStateBankBStGeorge’
ChooseTWOlettersA-E.WhichTWOgroupsofpatientsreceivefreemedication?Apeopleover17yearsoldBunemployedpeopleCn
Whatproblemsdothespeakersidentifyforeachexperiment?ChooseyouranswersfromtheboxandwritethelettersA-Hnexttoq
Completethenotesbelow.WriteONEWORDONLYforeachanswer.BusinessCulturesPowercultureCharacteristi
Completethenotesbelow.WriteONEWORDONLYforeachanswer.BusinessCulturesPowercultureCharacteristi
CompletethenotesbelowWriteONEWORDONLYforeachanswer.TheGherkinBuildingCommissionedby:【L31】______firmcalledFoste
CompletethenotesbelowWriteONEWORDONLYforeachanswer.TheGherkinBuildingCommissionedby:【L31】______firmcalledFoste
CompletethenotesbelowWriteONEWORDONLYforeachanswer.TheGherkinBuildingCommissionedby:【L31】______firmcalledFoste
随机试题
推行政务公开制度的基本原则是()
红细胞叠连主要受下列哪种因素影响
企业将未到期的应收票据向银行贴现,且银行拥有对贴现企业的追索权时,企业对该事项的正确会计处理是()。
甲公司2016年计划投资购入一台新设备,有关资料如下:(1)该设备的初始投资额是600万元,购入后无需安装直接投入使用。预计该设备投产后每年给公司增加300万元的销售收入,同时每年增加付现成本85万元。(2)预计该设备投产后,第一年年初的流动资产需要额
注册会计师在出具审计报告时应当考虑判断意见类型的依据是否恰当,下列对不同意见类型的判断中,正确的有()。
负迁移是指一种知识技能对另一种知识技能的影响,起到促进作用。()
产生职业病危害的用人单位的设立除应当符合法律、行政法规规定的设立条件外,其工作场所还应当符合一定的职业卫生要求。下列不符合职业卫生要求的一项是()
成语“风声鹤唳、草木皆兵”的典故出自于战争()。
简述我国新课程改革的基本理念。
Latelyithasbecomepopulartorejecttheadviceofdrinkingeightglassesofwateradayasamedicalmyth.Booksandmedical-
最新回复
(
0
)