Biotech firm gets another black eye over experiment.
Biotech firm gets another black eye over experiment.
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生物技术公司又因实验而蒙羞。
DOI：
10.1126/science.11643907
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发表时间：
1986
期刊：
影响因子：
56.9
通讯作者：
Marjorie Sun
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Marjorie Sun
高级基因科学公司（AGS），一家加利福尼亚的小公司，想要进行第一次转基因微生物的实地试验，却又搬起石头砸了自己的脚。《华盛顿邮报》最近披露，该公司在不知情或未经环境保护局批准的情况下，将细菌注射到位于奥克兰实验室屋顶的树木中。测试的消息给AGS、EPA和整个行业带来了更多的麻烦，因为他们正在努力制定一套管理生物技术产品环境释放的监管程序。尽管科学家和监管者普遍认为这些被改造过的生物——synsynae假单胞菌和荧光假单胞菌是无害的，但作家兼活动家杰里米•里弗林（Jeremy Riflin）抓住了这三种测试的披露作为证据，证明政府对生物技术的监管是不充分的，AGS和该行业是不可信的。这一消息促使一名联邦法官推迟了对瑞弗林公司提起的与AGS提议的实验有关的诉讼的裁决。此外，众议院一个小组委员会计划在3月4日就测试举行听证会。最近，AGS的公众形象受到了打击，而有关这些测试的公开报道是对AGS的又一次打击。去年12月，该公司终于获得了美国环境保护署和州政府的许可，在蒙特雷县的一块十分之一英亩的草莓地里对这种细菌进行了实地试验，并对其进行了改良，以防止霜冻形成。但社区对该试验的抗议爆发了，因为AGS自己承认，该公司未能向当地居民宣传该实验
Advanced Genetic Sciences (AGS), the small California company that wants to con-duct what would be the first field test of a genetically modified microbe, has shot itself in the foot again. The Washingon Post disclosed recently that the company injected the bacteria into trees located outside on the rooftop of its Oakland laboratory without the knowledge or approval of the Environmental Protection Agency. News ofthe tests has brought more woes to AGS, EPA, and the industry as a whole as they grapple to develop a regulatory process governing the environmental release of biotech products. Although the altered organisms, Pseudo-monas synngae and P. fluorescens, are generally regarded by scientists and regulators as innocuous, Jeremy Riflin, an author and activist, seized upon the disclosure of the tree tests as evidence that government regu-lations in biotechnology are inadequate, and that AGS and the industry cannot be trust-ed. The news prompted a federal judge to postpone a decision in a suit brought by Riflin related to the AGS proposed experi-ment. In addition, a House subcommittee scheduled a hearing on the tests for 4 March.The publicity about the tree tests is anoth-er blow to AGS, whose public image has taken a beating lately. In December, the company finally won permission from EPA and state authorities to field-test the bacteria, modified to prevent frost formation, on a one-tenth-acre strawberry patch in Monte-rey County. But community protests against the test erupted because, by AGS's own admission, the company failed to educate the local residents about the experiment