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 mi
Cancer and Chemicals Last year, California governor George Deukmejian called together many of the state’s best scientific mi
admin
2013-04-25
95
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 1000 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 1000 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 Ames, which of the following can be inferred about man-made carcinogens?
选项
A、They are no more harmful to people than a peanut-butter sandwich.
B、They are more harmful to people than a peanut-butter sandwich.
C、They are as harmful as a peanut-butter sandwich to people.
D、No definite conclusions have been made about them.
答案
A
解析
本题为推论题,考查考生是否能对文章中没有明确阐述但暗示了的信息进行推断的能力。题目问:根据Ames的观点,对自然(致癌)物质可得出什么结论?本文主要论述的是天然致癌物质与人工致癌物质对人体的侵害。Ames认为,人工(致癌)物质并不比天然(致癌)物质更可怕,因此选择A。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/zMyO777K
0
托福(TOEFL)
相关试题推荐
Answerthequestionsbelow.ChooseNOMORETHANTHREEWORDSfromthepassageforeachanswer.Writeyouranswersinboxesonyou
ChooseTHREEletters,A-F.Writethecorrectlettersinboxesonyouranswersheet.Thelistbelowincludescharacteristics
TheStudyofChimpanzeeCultureA.Afterstudyingthesimilaritiesbetweenchimpanzeesandhumansforyears,researchershav
TheStudyofChimpanzeeCultureA.Afterstudyingthesimilaritiesbetweenchimpanzeesandhumansforyears,researchershav
TheStudyofChimpanzeeCultureA.Afterstudyingthesimilaritiesbetweenchimpanzeesandhumansforyears,researchershav
Thestoryillustratesthatdogsare______animals.Thepeopleofthetownbuilta______ofadog.
"ResearchMethodology"Closescientificmethodbasedonempiricalevidence(=(21))Findaresearchproblemorques
"ResearchMethodology"Closescientificmethodbasedonempiricalevidence(=(21))Findaresearchproblemorques
Labelthemap.Chooseyouranswersfromtheboxbelow.WritetheappropriatelettersA-Eonthemap.AStateBankBStGeorge’
CompletethenotesbelowWriteONEWORDONLYforeachanswer.TheGherkinBuildingCommissionedby:【L31】______firmcalledFoste
随机试题
一般情况下,容易透过透析膜被清除的药物是()。
说唱老艺人王某经多年搜集、整理,将一民间传说创作成评书《侠女戚三妹》,同时录制成磁带。《侠女戚三妹》在电台播出时,作家曹某逐段录音,并根据录音记录成书,出版了同名小说《侠女戚三妹》,署名为曹某。对此,不符合著作权法的规定的是()。
某服装厂从去年7月开张,前两个月生意不错,资金周转顺利,按时向税务机关进行了纳税申报。10月.因一些衣服积压,加上有的客户资金没有及时返回.资金周转出现了困难。没有及时进行纳税申报。县国税局催缴两次,该服装厂都没有理会。县国税局经税务局局长批准后,派税务人
砂浆强度、中心点位、井底高程均是检查(雨水)井砌筑实测项目。()
某大型超市,现浇钢筋混凝土结构,建筑面积1100m2,局部设置吊顶。根据规范要求,超市设置有湿式自动喷水灭火系统。则自喷系统喷头形式不包含()。
试对下列有关某机械加工厂的工资问题做出分析。[2007年真题]在第4题中,小王和小李的工资差别属于()工资差别。
甲股份有限公司(以下简称“甲公司”)为上市公司,系增值税一般纳税人,销售商品适用的增值税税率为17%。甲公司2015年度财务报告于2016年4月10日经董事会批准对外报出。报出前有关情况和业务资料如下:(1)甲公司在2016年1月进行内部审计过程中,发现
给定资料1.媒体披露H省一中学发生群发性肺结核事件后,A县政府官网于2017年11月16日中午通报证实确有此事,但对事件涉及的范围和人数只字未提。而根据《结核病防治管理办法》,肺结核疫情严重,构成突发公共卫生事件的,应当及时向社会公布疫情处置情况
下列诸债中,属于约定之债的是()。
Manyteachersbelievethattheresponsibilitiesforlearningliewiththestudent.【C1】______alongreadingassignmentisgiven,
最新回复
(
0
)