经济学人281:生育技术 英国通过三亲婴儿决议

 　　Reproductive technology

　　生育技术

　　Oh, baby

　　噢，宝贝！

　　Britain's approval of babies with three genetic¹ parents offers lessons for other countries

　　英国通过“三亲婴儿”决议，给他国带来的影响。

　　“PLAYING God” is what medicine is for. Every Caesarean section and cancer treatment is an attempt to interfere² with the natural course of events for the benefit of the patient. Not every procedure should be allowed, but a general sense of what is “unnatural³” is a poor guide to what to ban. Transplants and transfusions⁴ were once considered unnatural, but now save many lives. That insight is why MPs were right to agree, on February 3rd, that Britain should become the first country to allow the creation of children with genetic material from three people instead of the usual two.

　　医学的初衷本就是“与上帝过招”。曾经剖腹产和癌症治疗被视为是一种对病人有益但却违背自然法则的手段，可是并非每个步骤都应被人接受，在一般情况下，我们很难对于这类“非自然”的行为颁布禁令，就好比移植和输血曾一度被定为是一种“非自然”手段，然而这两种方式却拯救了无数条生命。正是有这样的见解，在2月3日，英国国会议员行使表决权，认为英国应该成为首个允许利用“一父两母”3人基因共同育子（“三亲婴儿”）的国家，从而打破传统意义上的双亲育儿。

　　By doing so, they hope to relieve terrible suffering. Faults with mitochondria—the tiny power sources inside cells—afflict about one child in 6,500, or 100 a year in Britain. The many conditions that result, a lot of them agonising and fatal, have no cure. So scientists hope to prevent them at conception, by transferring the healthy nucleus⁵ of an egg cell with damaged mitochondria into the body of an egg with functioning ones.

　　他们希望通过这样的方式来纾缓一种因线粒体疾病带来的痛苦。线粒体，作为细胞的动力工厂，却往往存在一些缺陷。在英国，大约每6500名儿童中就有一个会饱受因线粒体缺陷所带来的折磨，而这类线粒体相关疾病，每年也约有100例。多数情况下，患者多会感到极为痛苦，因无法治愈，因而多为致命的。因此，科学家们希望能在孕育期间，将捐赠者健康的线粒体与有缺陷的孕方卵子相结合来培育新的生命，以此来阻止或预防这一疾病的发生。

　　生育技术.jpg

　　The procedure is not yet allowed anywhere else in the world, partly because it is new and untested in people but also because of the opposition⁶ that reproductive medicine often inspires. Mitochondria contain DNA⁷, therefore any child born as a result of such intervention⁸ will inherit genes⁹ from three people—hence the headlines in Britain this week about “three-parent babies”. If the baby is a girl the genetic tweak in her mitochondria will be inherited by her children, and in turn by her granddaughters' children. It is a “germ-line modification”, and thus irrevocable.

　　这一方法尚未允许在其他国家和地区随意使用，不仅是因为这是一项新技术、尚未通过人类测试，更是因为容易激发反生殖医学派的反对。线粒体本身含有DNA，因此任何一个通过该种方式出生的孩子，都会同时继承三方的遗传因子。因此这一周英国的头条新闻均为“三亲婴儿”。如果诞生的是名女婴，那么她的基因突变的线粒体将会遗传给她的孩子，同理的，将会一直遗传给她孙女的孩子，这是一种“胚芽线式的修饰”，因此该基因无法改变。

　　This ethical¹⁰ objection to mitochondrial donation is decisively outweighed¹¹ by the good that ought to come from it. Mitochondrial disease is a misery¹² to those who have it and a terror to those who fear they might pass it on to their children; curtailing¹³ it would be wonderful. The complaint that this is the first step on the road to “designer babies” is as weak as any other slippery-slope argument: approving one procedure does not mean automatically approving others.

　　线粒体捐献的好处远远大于其伦理上的弊端。线粒体病给该病的患者带来深切痛苦，让他们害怕会将此病遗传给其子女，假若我们能通过“一父两母”这样的方法，解决这一问题，该有多好啊！有人指出，线粒体捐献是“设计婴儿”的第一步，但这种言论如同其它站不住脚的论调一样不堪一击，因为允许人为干预这一步骤并不意味着可以自由的发展其他步骤。

　　A second objection is that this procedure, like any new technique, might not be safe. Those who must bear that risk are not yet born, and so cannot consent to the treatment. But parents already make medical decisions on behalf of their children, even unborn ones. And Britain's bureaucrats¹⁴, led by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which regulates fertility treatments, have been scrupulous¹⁵ in assessing risks. The HFEA first granted a research licence for the technique in 2005. Since then, a scientific panel has conducted three reviews of trials in test tubes and in animals. These have given no cause for concern.

　　第二个反对的声音则来自于该技术本身。毕竟作为一项新的技术，它并非足够安全。而这一次要承担风险的则是那些尚未出生的婴儿，因而有人反对采用这一治疗方式。但换言之，当今父母早就开始代表他们的孩子做出了足够多的医疗决策，当然包括他们未出世的孩子们。人类受精与胚胎管理局（HFRA）作为英国一家管理不孕不育的机构，一直引导着英国的一些政府机构谨慎的评估该风险。HFRA从2005年起，便首次颁发许可证允许开展这一技术的研究。从那时起，该科学小组就已在试管婴儿及动物身上进行了三次检验，检查结果也并未显示存在问题。

　　From the land of the test-tube baby

　　源于试管婴儿

　　That scrupulousness¹⁶ is one reason why the vote passed as easily as it did. Doctors and patients' groups sometimes criticise¹⁷ the HFEA for being too conservative. But its somewhat ponderous¹⁸, consensus-seeking approach (the HFEA has conducted consultations¹⁹, ethics²⁰ reviews and several opinion polls) has helped Britain steer²¹ clear both of American-style culture wars and of the lax oversight²² found in some Asian countries.

　　英国在这一问题上始终小心谨慎是该提案得以轻松通过的原因之一，在该问题上有时医生及患者还指责HFEA在这一研究上过于保守。可是正因为这种略显迟缓、但又始终保持广征民意（HFEA多次进行了意见咨询，道德审查及民意测验）的态度，使得英国成功避开了美式文化战和一些法律监管有所疏漏的亚洲国家的反对。

　　Mitochondrial donation will not be the last piece of controversial medicine that the HFEA will need to wrestle²³ with. It is already possible, for example, to sequence the genes of embryos²⁴ and discard those that carry incurable²⁵ genetic diseases. Choosing beneficial characteristics is, for now, illegal. But as the human genome becomes better understood, patients may agitate²⁶ for exemptions²⁷. The HFEA, or something like it, offers the best method for evaluating the benefits and risks of such procedures. Sometimes bureaucrats are just what you need.

　　线粒体捐献虽然还饱受争议，但这仍旧不是HFEA所要面对的最后一件具有争论性的医学技术问题。例如，现今的医学水平已能对胚胎基因进行排序，甚至剔除那些不可治愈的基因性疾病的基因。虽然，目前人为地选择有益基因是违法的，但是随着人类对自身基因的不断研究和深入理解，患者或许会产生对撤销这一法律规定的诉求，那时HFEA及其类似机构则应为这些医学技术及步骤进行深入的利弊评估，服务民众本就是政府机构的职责所在。

1 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

2 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

3 unnatural   

adj.不自然的；反常的

参考例句：

• Did her behaviour seem unnatural in any way?她有任何反常表现吗？
• She has an unnatural smile on her face.她脸上挂着做作的微笑。

4 transfusions   

n.输血( transfusion的名词复数 )；输液；倾注；渗透

参考例句：

• Still, transfusions have apparently never spread the disease, even among hemophiliacs. 还有，输血很明显从未传播过这种病，即使在血友病人之间也是如此。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 口蹄疫疯牛病
• Blood transfusions are a special, limited example of tissue transplantation. 输血是一个特殊的、有限制的组织移植的例子。 来自辞典例句

5 nucleus   

n.核，核心，原子核

参考例句：

• These young people formed the nucleus of the club.这些年轻人成了俱乐部的核心。
• These councils would form the nucleus of a future regime.这些委员会将成为一个未来政权的核心。

6 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

7 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

8 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

9 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

10 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

11 outweighed   

v.在重量上超过( outweigh的过去式和过去分词 )；在重要性或价值方面超过

参考例句：

• This boxer outweighed by his opponent 20 pounds. 这个拳击选手体重比他的对手重20磅。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She outweighed me by ten pounds, and sometimes she knocked me down. 她的体重超过我十磅，有时竟把我撞倒。 来自百科语句

12 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

13 curtailing   

v.截断，缩短( curtail的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• They will be curtailing the discussions at two thirty. 他们将把讨论缩短至两点半。 来自互联网
• Individually, banks are acting rationally by retaining their capital and curtailing lending. 此外，银行们正在合理地保留其资本和减少贷款。 来自互联网

14 bureaucrats   

n.官僚( bureaucrat的名词复数 )；官僚主义；官僚主义者；官僚语言

参考例句：

• That is the fate of the bureaucrats, not the inspiration of statesmen. 那是官僚主义者的命运，而不是政治家的灵感。 来自辞典例句
• Big business and dozens of anonymous bureaucrats have as much power as Japan's top elected leaders. 大企业和许多不知名的官僚同日本选举出来的最高层领导者们的权力一样大。 来自辞典例句

15 scrupulous   

adj.审慎的，小心翼翼的，完全的，纯粹的

参考例句：

• She is scrupulous to a degree.她非常谨慎。
• Poets are not so scrupulous as you are.诗人并不像你那样顾虑多。

16 scrupulousness   

n.一丝不苟；小心翼翼

参考例句：

17 criticise   

v.批评，评论；非难

参考例句：

• Right and left have much cause to criticise government.左翼和右翼有很多理由批评政府。
• It is not your place to criticise or suggest improvements!提出批评或给予改进建议并不是你的责任！

18 ponderous   

adj.沉重的，笨重的，(文章)冗长的

参考例句：

• His steps were heavy and ponderous.他的步伐沉重缓慢。
• It was easy to underestimate him because of his occasionally ponderous manner.由于他偶尔现出的沉闷的姿态，很容易使人小看了他。

19 consultations   

n.磋商（会议）( consultation的名词复数 )；商讨会；协商会；查找

参考例句：

• Consultations can be arranged at other times by appointment. 磋商可以通过预约安排在其他时间。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Consultations are under way. 正在进行磋商。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

20 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

21 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

22 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

23 wrestle   

vi.摔跤，角力；搏斗；全力对付

参考例句：

• He taught his little brother how to wrestle.他教他小弟弟如何摔跤。
• We have to wrestle with difficulties.我们必须同困难作斗争。

24 embryos   

n.晶胚；胚，胚胎( embryo的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Somatic cells of angiosperms enter a regenerative phase and behave like embryos. 被子植物体细胞进入一个生殖阶段，而且其行为象胚。 来自辞典例句
• Evolution can explain why human embryos look like gilled fishes. 进化论能够解释为什么人类的胚胎看起来象除去了内脏的鱼一样。 来自辞典例句

25 incurable   

adj.不能医治的，不能矫正的，无救的；n.不治的病人，无救的人

参考例句：

• All three babies were born with an incurable heart condition.三个婴儿都有不可治瘉的先天性心脏病。
• He has an incurable and widespread nepotism.他们有不可救药的，到处蔓延的裙带主义。

26 agitate   

vi.(for,against)煽动，鼓动；vt.搅动

参考例句：

• They sent agents to agitate the local people.他们派遣情报人员煽动当地的民众。
• All you need to do is gently agitate the water with a finger or paintbrush.你只需要用手指或刷子轻轻地搅动水。

27 exemptions   

n.（义务等的）免除( exemption的名词复数 )；免（税）；（收入中的）免税额

参考例句：

• The exemptions for interpretive rules, policy statements, and procedural rules have just been discussed. 有关解释性规则、政策说明和程序规则的免责我们刚刚讨论过。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• A: The regulation outlines specific exemptions for some WPM. 答：该规定概述了某些木质包装材料的特定的例外情形。 来自互联网