LastyearCongressissuedamoralcalltoactionwhenitorderedth...

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LastyearCongressissuedamoralcalltoactionwhenitorderedth...

Last year Congress issued a moral call to action when it ordered the National Institutes of Health to reevaluate its ethical oversight (伦理上的疏忽) of government-funded primate (灵长类) research. Although the scientific community widely sees nonhuman primates as essential for advances in biomedicine (they have caused major gains in the fights against AIDS and neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s, for example), researchers agree more can be done to treat the animals more humanely and conduct research less wastefully. To that end, the NIH gathered famous scientists last September to discuss the future of primate-based research—and they agreed that data sharing is the way forward.

Researchers could reduce experiments on nonhuman primates by studying data that have already been collected to answer new questions, says David O’Connor, a pathologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. O’Connor is walking the walk: his laboratory studies the Zika virus in primates, and he immediately posts all the results online. The goal is to figure out ways to fight Zika as quickly as possible without placing an undue Burden on research primates. The Seattle-based Allen Institute for Brain Science, which uses rhesus macaques, small South Asian monkeys, to study the molecular basis of brain development, also makes all results public. O’Connor says this practice should be more widespread so that “researchers who are using this scarce but vital resource can learn as much as possible from as few animals as necessary.” Still, he is skeptical that data sharing will catch on because it would require a change in “normative behavior”—science’s strong culture of secrecy, in which data are kept under wraps until they are published in a peer-reviewed journal. One step toward full transparency is to follow the lead of human clinical trials, says Christine Grady, a bioethicist at the NIH. U.S. law requires most clinical trials to register online and make their results public, even if a study fails or is inconclusive. This ensures that other researchers can learn from a trial regardless of its results—a move that could also safeguard primates against being used for the same thing twice. Nancy Haigwood, director of the Oregon National Primate Research Center, also says data sharing is “the way of the future.” Her center hosts 4,800 primates to study a variety of human diseases. She currently contributes results from her center to O’Connor’s Web site. “I don’t see a drawback,” she says. “We have to share data more quickly.”

61. What does Congress think of the primate research?

       A. It has done a great deal of good to advances in biomedicine.

       B. It is a huge waste of money to conduct research on primates.

       C. Primate-based research must be stopped for moral reasons.

       D. Proper attention should be given to treating primates humanely.

62. The underlined phrase “walking the walk” in Paragraph 2 shows that O’Connor _______.

       A. is the leader in fighting Zika virus in primates

       B. is walking away from his own responsibility

       C. is carrying out what he has said he should do

       D. is taking a tough road when posting his data

63. According to O’Connor, what might prevent scientists from sharing their data?

       A. The deep-rooted culture that data should be kept secret until published.

       B. The fact that scientists are reluctant to change their way of research.

       C. The requirement that most clinical trials should be registered online.

       D. The fear that they will be laughed at if a study fails or is inconclusive.

64. What could be the best title for the passage?

       A. The Merciless Practice of Primate Research

       B. To Treat Primates More Humanely: Transparency

       C. To Abandon Experiments on Primates: Final Goal

       D. The Burden of Research on Nonhuman Primates

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