中国教授研制出“可以喝”的农药

A university biologist in Southwest China encouraged people to drink pesticide at his lab on Thursday.

周四，中国西南地区的一位大学生物学家在他的实验室里鼓励人们喝农药。

Viscous and green, the biological pesticide was recently approved for mass production in China - and its inventor has quite the sales pitch.

最近，这种浓浓的、绿色的生物农药被批准在中国大规模生产，而且其发明者也有相当好的推销言辞。

"The pesticide has two ingredients-cooking oil and rice," said Xia Yuxian, professor at School of Life Sciences, Chongqing University. "Unlike many traditional pesticides, it may even be less toxic than a grilled meal."

重庆大学生命科学学院教授夏玉先说：“这种农药有两大成分 - 食用油和大米。与许多传统农药不同，它可能比一顿烧烤的毒性还要小。”

Biopesticides are commonly derived from natural sources that evolved their own defense mechanism against pests.

生物农药通常来自天然资源，逐渐演变出它们自己的防御害虫机制。

In Xia’s case, the active ingredient is Metarhizium, a predatory fungus that for years has produced strains known to infect insects such as beetles but is non-toxic to humans.

在夏教授研制的农药中，其活性成分是绿僵菌，这是一种掠食性真菌，多年来已经产生了一种已知的菌株，可以感染像甲壳虫这样的昆虫，但对人类没有毒性。

Xia’s research first received funding from the National 863 Program in 2006. It was recently approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and will soon be produced in large volumes, according to Xia.

2006年，夏教授的研究首次获得国家863计划的资助。据夏教授讲，农业部最近批准了这一研究，很快就会大量生产。

"Our monthly output will be 20 tons," Xia said, an amazing feat considering biological pesticides are difficult to make and are often produced in relatively small amounts.

“我们的月产量将达到20吨，”夏教授说，考虑到生物农药很难研制，而且产量相对较小，月产量20吨是一项了不起的成就。

Approval for production, however, is not necessarily a sign of safety, and further evaluations may be required.

然而，生产得到批准不一定代表安全，可能还需要进一步的评估。

But for now, at least it passes the taste test.

但是目前，至少这种农药通过了试喝的测试。

"It’s fresh," said a brave volunteer at Xia’s laboratory on Thursday. "Add some sugar and it might be a popular drink."

周四，在夏教授的实验室里，一位勇敢的试喝志愿者说：“这农药喝起来清清凉凉，加点糖估计就是受欢迎的饮料了。"