第一篇:美国总统奥巴马将签署命令取消干细胞研究限制
美国总统奥巴马将签署命令取消干细胞研究限制
内容来源:新华网
美国著名的生物学家戴利(George Daley)就曾预言:“20世纪是药物治疗的时代,21世纪将是细胞治疗的时代”。
2009 年 3 月,美国总统奥巴马在签署他上任后的第一个干细胞法案时说: “干细胞治疗将使绝症或不治之症词汇消失!”
据“中央社”报道,为履行竞选承诺,美国总统奥巴马将于美国华盛顿当地时间9日上午11时45分,在白宫东厢签署一项行政命令,取消禁止使用联邦经费研究胚胎干细胞的禁令。美国前总统布什于2001年8月9日下令禁止进行新研究,使得各相关研究机构的研究项目,被限制在禁令发布前已经开发的21条干细胞株。奥巴马在竞选期间承诺,如果当选总统,将取消这项禁令。
医学界认为胚胎干细胞研究将使21世纪医学迈向新境界,许多目前无法有效治疗的病症,包括帕金森氏症、糖尿病及脊髓受伤,都可能找到答案,因为胚胎干细胞可以发展成各种需要的组织。
新闻背景:美国的胚胎干细胞研究之争
新华网华盛顿3月9日电(记者任海军)美国总统奥巴马9日签署行政命令,宣布解除对用联邦政府资金支持胚胎干细胞研究的限制,美国的胚胎干细胞研究有望进入新阶段。
2001年8月,美国时任总统布什宣布对胚胎干细胞研究设限,规定联邦政府对胚胎干细胞研究的资助仅限于研究当时已有的胚胎干细胞,不得资助从新胚胎中提取干细胞进而开展研究。近年来,关于联邦政府是否应进一步支持胚胎干细胞研究的问题曾数次在美国引起激烈争论,取消上述限制的呼声也日益高涨。
布什一直认为,从胚胎中提取干细胞无异于“故意摧毁人类胚胎”,这是他本人“不能跨越的道德底线”。这也代表了美国相当一部分保守人士的观点。
不过,美国科学界和公众普遍支持胚胎干细胞研究。2007年6月20日,美国“拉斯穆森”民意调查公司公布的调查数据显示,有三分之二的美国人相信,胚胎干细胞研究会有助于人类治愈某些顽疾。同一天,美国《科学》杂志网站公布的调查显示,半数以上因不孕症进行体外受精并移植胚胎的美国人,愿意将多余胚胎捐献出来用于胚胎干细胞研究。美国科学促进会也发表声明说,科学界的主流观点认为,胚胎干细胞是极有前景的研究领域,通过这项研究有望找到攻克人类诸多顽疾的新疗法。
然而,民意和科学界的呼吁没能改变布什的立场。在其任内,布什曾两度否决国会提交的放宽联邦政府资助胚胎干细胞研究的法案。
近年来,由于无法得到足够的研究资金,美国越来越多的胚胎干细胞研究人员转向别国寻求发展,美国在这一研究领域也有些落伍。
新闻背景:干细胞、胚胎干细胞和iPS细胞
新华网华盛顿3月9日电 成年生物体内有多种体细胞,例如血液细胞、肌肉细胞、免疫细胞和神经细胞等等,它们形态各异,具有不同的功能。干细胞则是未充分分化、具有自我更新和分化潜能的细胞。
如果把体细胞比喻成具有一技之长的“专门人才”,干细胞就是尚不具备专门才能,但可以通过学习成才的“潜在人才”,可以分化为多种成体细胞。分化一旦完成,体细胞的“职业”就确定了。
受精卵分裂发育成囊胚时内层细胞团的细胞即为胚胎干细胞,它具有“全能”的发展潜力,可以分化成所有不同种类的体细胞。就像刚出生的婴儿,虽然没有任何专门才能,但未来有着无限的可能,长大后具体成为什么领域的人才取决于培养过程。
由于胚胎干细胞的“全能”性,仅从技术角度来说,用胚胎干细胞来培养人体组织和器官以治疗疾病是最理想的。但胚胎干细胞要从胚胎中提取,有关研究在一些国家遇到伦理方面的反对,进行得不太顺利。成年动物体内也有一些干细胞,称为成体干细胞。它们具有一定的分化潜力,但分化方向比较固定,比如造血干细胞通常只发展成血液细胞。成体干细胞就像已经接受过大量专业训练的学生,一般只会发展成特定领域的人才。
成体干细胞不涉及伦理问题,研究比较便利,然而其分化能力有限。虽然科学家曾成功改变成体干细胞的分化方向,但总体而言,“跨专业发展”对成体干细胞而言相当困难。
2007年11月,美国和日本科学家分别宣布独立发现将普通皮肤细胞转化为干细胞的方法,这样得到的干细胞称为诱导多功能干细胞,又名iPS细胞。iPS细胞具有和胚胎干细胞类似的功能,却绕开了胚胎干细胞研究一直面临的伦理和法律等诸多障碍,因此在医疗领域的应用前景非常广阔。
目前,国际上关于iPS细胞的研究可谓日新月异,是干细胞研究的热点领域之一。
第二篇:美国总统奥巴马起诉中国稀土出口限制演讲稿
美国总统奥巴马起诉中国稀土出口限制演讲稿
第一部分:奥巴马回应美军无故射杀至少16名阿富汗平民
Good morning, everybody.Before I make an announcement about our efforts to stand up for U.S.businesses and U.S.workers, I'd like to say a few words about the situation in Afghanistan.大家早上好。在我宣布有关维护美国企业和美国工人利益的事项之前,我想就阿富汗局势说几句话。
Over the weekend, as many of you know, there was a tragic incident in which a number of Afghan civilians were killed.What I've made to President Karzai when I spoke to him is that the United States takes this as seriously as if it was our own citizens and our own children who were murdered.We're heartbroken over the loss of innocent life.The killing of innocent civilians is outrageous and it's unacceptable.It's not who we are as a country, and it does not represent our military.如你们许多人所知,上周末发生了一件悲惨事件,一些阿富汗平民被杀害。我在与卡尔扎伊(Karzai)总统通话时向他明确表示,美国极为重视这一事件,如同我们自己的公民和我们自己的孩子被杀害一样。无辜的生命被杀害,我们伤痛欲绝。杀害无辜平民的行为令人发指,不可容忍。这不符合我们国家的精神,这并不代表我们的。
And for that reason, I've directed the Pentagon to make sure that we spare no effort in conducting a full investigation.I can assure the American people and the Afghan people that we will follow the facts wherever they lead us, and we will make sure that anybody who was involved is held fully accountable with the full force of the law.为此,我已经指示五角大楼,保证我们不遗余力地进行全面调查。我可以向美国人民和阿富汗人民保证,我们将遵照事实,不论情况如何。我们保证通过法律全力追究任何参与者的全部责任。
Yesterday, I met with General Allen and Ambassador Crocker, who were here in Washington, and I've extraordinary confidence in them and in the many Americans who are serving in Afghanistan and who have made extraordinary sacrifices to be there.Today I'll be meeting with Prime Minister Cameron, who is part of our broad coalition serving in Afghanistan, and we'll have an opportunity to consult about the way forward as we prepare for the NATO summit in Chicago later this spring.昨天,我会见了在华盛顿的艾伦(Allen)将军和克罗克(Crocker)大使,我对他们和许多在阿富汗服役并作出巨大牺牲的美国人有非凡的信心。今天,我将会见卡梅伦(Cameron)首相,他参与我们在阿富汗的广泛联盟。我们将有机会商讨未来推进的途径,与此同时我们正为今年春季晚些时候在芝加哥(Chicago)举行的北约首峰会(NATO summit)作准备。So make no mistake, we have a strategy that will allow us to responsibly wind down this war.We're steadily transitioning to the Afghans who are moving into the lead, and that's going to allow us to bring our troops home.Already we're scheduled to remove 23,000 troops by the end of this summer, followed by--following the 10,000 that we withdrew last year.And meanwhile, we will continue the work of devastating al Qaeda's leadership and denying them a safe haven.毫无疑问,我们采取的战略可以让我们以负责任的方式结束这场战争。我们正在稳步朝阿富汗人主导的方向过渡,这将让我们撤回我国军队。我们预定今年夏季结束前撤回23,000名军人,此后——此前,我们已在去年撤回10,000人。同时,我们将继续追剿―基地‖(al Qaeda)组织的头目,使他们没有藏身之地。
There's no question that we face a difficult challenge in Afghanistan, but I am confident that we can continue the work of meeting our objectives, protecting our country and responsibly bringing this war to a close.毫无疑问,我们在阿富汗面临艰巨的挑战,但我坚信我们能够继续努力完成我们的目标,保卫我们的国家和负责任地结束这场战争。
Now, one of the things that I talked about during the State of the Union address was making America more competitive in the global economy.The good news is that we have the best workers and the best businesses in the world.They turn out the best products.And when the playing field is level, they'll always be able to compete and succeed against every other country on Earth.我在发表国情咨文(State of the Union)时谈到的问题之一是增强美国在全球经济中的竞争力。值得高兴的是,我们有全世界最优秀的工人和最好的企业。他们能生产最优质的产品。如果竞赛环境是公平的,他们将始终有能力与地球上任何国家进行竞争并获得成功。第二部分:奥巴马宣布联合日本、欧洲盟友向WTO起诉中国稀土出口限制
But the key is to make sure that the playing field is level.And frankly, sometimes it's not.I will always try to work our differences through with other countries.We prefer dialogue.That's especially true when it comes to key trading partners like China.We've got a constructive economic relationship with China, and whenever possible, we are committed to working with them to addressing our concerns.But when it is necessary, I will take action if our workers and our businesses are being subjected to unfair practices.但关键是要保证竞争环境的公平。坦率地说,有时并非如此。我将始终为解决与其他国家的分歧而努力。我们希望进行对话,在涉及中国等主要贸易伙伴的时候尤其如此。我们已经与中国发展了建设性的经济关系,只要有可能,我们都致力于与他们协商解决我们关心的问题。但是,在必要的情况下,如果我们的工人和我们的企业受到不公平待遇,我将采取行动。Since I took office, we've brought trade cases against China at nearly twice the rate as the last administration, and these actions are making a difference.For example, we halted an unfair surge in Chinese tires, which has helped put over 1,000 American workers back on the job.But we haven't stopped there.自我任职总统以来,本届政府针对中国提出贸易申诉案的数量是上一届政府的近两倍,而且这些行动正在发挥作用。例如,我们制止了中国轮胎以不公平的方式大量涌入,有助于我们让1,000多名美国工人重返工作岗位。但我们没有就此止步。
Two weeks ago, I created a Trade Enforcement Unit to aggressively investigate any unfair trade practices taking place anywhere in the world.And as they ramp up their efforts, our competitors should be on notice: You will not get away with skirting the rules.When we can, we will rally support from our allies.And when it makes sense to act on our own, we will.两个星期前,我创建了贸易执法单位(Trade Enforcement Unit),积极调查全世界任何地方出现的不公平贸易行为。在他们加紧努力工作之际,我们的竞争对手应该认识到:他们将不能再绕过贸易规则而不受追究。在可能的情况下,我们将争取我们盟国的支持;如果有需要,我们也将自行采取行动。
I just signed a bill to help American companies that are facing unfair foreign competition.These companies employ tens of thousands of Americans in nearly 40 states.Because of subsidies from foreign governments, some of their foreign competitors are selling products at an artificially low price.That needs to stop.我刚签署了一个法案,帮助面临外国不公平竞争的美国公司。这些公司在近40个州雇用了成千上万的美国人。一些外国竞争对手因获得外国政府的补贴,正以人为的低价出售产品。这种情况 必须加以制止。
This morning, we're taking an additional step forward.We're bringing a new trade case against China--and we're being joined by Japan and some of our European allies.This case involves something called rare earth materials, which are used by American manufacturers to make high-tech products like advanced batteries that power everything from hybrid cars to cell phones.今天早上,我们又采取了进一步措施。我们针对中国提出了新的贸易申诉案。日本和我们的一些欧洲盟国也参加了这次申诉行动。这次提出的申诉案涉及被称为稀土的材料。美国制造业者使用这种材料制造高科技产品,例如为混合动力汽车和手机等各类产品提供能源的先进电池等。We want our companies building those products right here in America.But to do that, American manufacturers need to have access to rare earth materials--which China supplies.Now, if China would simply let the market work on its own, we'd have no objections.But their policies currently are preventing that from happening.And they go against the very rules that China agreed to follow.我们希望我们的公司在美国本地制造这些产品,但为此美国制造业者必须获得稀土材料—中国供应这类材料。如果中国完全让市场自行运作,我们毫不反对。但中国目前的政策不允许这样做,与中国已经同意遵守的规则背道而驰。
Being able to manufacture advanced batteries and hybrid cars in America is too important for us to stand by and do nothing.We've got to take control of our energy future, and we can't let that energy industry take root in some other country because they were allowed to break the rules.So our administration will bring this case against China today, and we will keep working every single day to give American workers and American businesses a fair shot in the global economy.能够在美国制造先进电池和混合动力汽车等产品对我们极为重要,我们绝不能坐视不顾,也不能无所作为。我们必须掌握我国能源的未来。我们不能让这类能源工业受制于某些国家,只因为他们可以违反贸易规则。因此,今天本届政府将针对中国提出这项申诉案,我们将为美国工人和美国企业在全球经济中获得公平的机会日复一日努力工作。
We're going to make sure that this isn't a country that's just known for what we consume.America needs to get back to doing what it's always done best--a country that builds and sells products all over the world that are stamped with the proud words: “Made in America.” That's how we create good, middle-class jobs at home, and that's how we're going to create an economy that's built to last.我们将切实做到,美国不仅仅是一个以产品消费著称的国家。美国必须返本还源,从事我们历来表现最优异的工作 –– 作为制造产品并向全世界出售产品的国家,让这些产品印上值得自豪的标记:―Made in America‖(美国制造)。这正是我们在国内为中产阶级创造良好就业岗位的途径,也是我国经济常盛不衰的途径。Thank you very much, everybody.