21歲的陳玲(音譯)需要用小白鼠來做實驗。然而,這些小家伙們看上去像是生病了。它們蜷縮在籠子的角落里,眼神呆滯。
Without gloves, the 21-year-old clinical medicine sophomore is reluctant to reach into the cage. What will happen if one of the mice scratches her and she catches a disease?
這位臨床醫學專業的大二學生不愿在不戴手套的情況下,直接用手去抓老鼠。如果被其中一只老鼠抓破了手而導致細菌感染那該怎么辦?
The student’s worries about her security in her school’s laboratory have increased since the accident at Northeast Agricultural University in December last year. Twenty-seven students and one teacher were infected by Brucella during experiments on goats.
去年12月份,東北農業大學27名學生和一名老師在山羊解剖實驗過程中感染了布魯氏菌。這起實驗室事故讓作為學生的陳玲更加關注自己在學校實驗室里的安全問題。
At a press conference on September 5, 2011, the university admitted that the accident was caused by the teachers’ negligence. When they bought the goats, the teachers had not asked the farm to issue a quarantine certificate. Nor had they arranged to have the goats quarantined before using them for experiments.
在2011年9月5日舉行的新聞發布會上,東北農業大學承認該事故是由教師的疏忽造成的。他們在購買山羊時,老師并沒有要求農場出具檢疫證書。他們在實驗前也沒有對這些山羊進行檢疫。
Even in the lab, the teachers had not been strict with health and safety. Some students and even the instructor himself dissected the goats without gloves on, according to an infected student quoted by Xinhua News Agency.
新華社的報道中援引一位受感染學生的話稱,甚至到了實驗室中,教師們也沒有嚴把健康安全關。一些學生甚至是教師本人也沒有戴手套便直接解剖山羊。
The accident has aroused public concern about the issue of safety in college laboratory experiments.
該事故引發了公眾對于高校實驗室實驗安全問題的擔憂。
“We want to know whether we are using healthy animals in our experiments; whether we are working in a safe lab,” said Chen, who studied at Wannan Medical College and refused to give her real name. She complains that her school is not providing enough funding to ensure laboratory security.
皖南醫學院學生陳某表示:“我們想知道實驗所使用的動物是否健康,以及我們工作的實驗室是否安全。”拒絕透露真實姓名的她抱怨學校沒有提供足夠資金來保障實驗室安全。
Li Manyu, 20, is a sophomore majoring in clinical examination at Zhengzhou University. As part of the course, Li’s teacher shows the students the rooms where the school keeps the animals for experiments.
20歲的李曼玉(音譯)是鄭州大學臨床檢查專業的大二學生。作為課程的一部分,李曼玉的老師向學生們展示了學校存放實驗動物的房間。
The rooms look clean. Even so, Li feels that it would be better if students could see the quarantine process, and if the school identified those animals that had undergone quarantine.
這些房間看上去還挺干凈。雖然如此,李曼玉認為如果學生能夠看到檢疫程序,還有校方能夠表明哪些動物是檢疫合格的話,那就更好了。
Many students say the problem is especially bad at the undergraduate level. Even in big, important universities, it is often only the key postgraduate labs that enjoy sufficient funding, according to Ge Xin. Ge (not her real name) is a 19-year-old sophomore majoring in chemistry at Xiamen University.
很多學生坦言實驗室安全問題在本科階段尤為糟糕。廈門大學化學專業大二學生,19歲的葛星(化名)稱,即便是在重點院校,也只有那些重點研究生實驗室能夠享受到足夠的資金支持。
Ge has had problems with the difference in the equipment in labs for freshmen and labs for postgraduates. Postgraduates, for example, use disposable test tubes when they do experiments on potentially dangerous heavy metal ions.
葛星對于區別對待新生和研究生實驗室設備這一問題頗有微詞。比如,研究生們在進行存在潛在危險的重金屬離子實驗時使用的是一次性試管。
However, Ge needs to wash the tubes after experiments. Worse still, she sometimes cannot find a suitable brush, so has to wash the tube with her finger, running the risk of touching heavy metal ions.
然而,葛星卻需要在實驗結束后清洗試管。更糟糕的是,有時她找不到合適的清洗刷子,就只能冒著接觸重金屬離子的風險用手指去擦洗試管。
“Undergraduates of some majors need to do a lot of experiments in the lab,” said Ge, who spends six hours per week in the lab. “The ‘easy’ experiments we do also have risks. The school should give the same weight to our safety in labs.”
每周會在實驗室里呆足六小時的葛星說:“一些專業的本科生要在實驗室中進行許多的實驗。我們所做的許多‘簡單’實驗也同樣存在危險。學校應該同樣重視我們在實驗室里的安全。”
Universities are responsible for offering students safe equipment for their experiments and giving clear security instructions, according to Jiang Kaixun. Jiang is in charge of a lab for manufacturing automation at Northeast Petroleum University.
東北石油大學自動化生產實驗室的負責人蔣開勛(音譯)表示,各高校有責任為學生的實驗提供安全的設備并給予清晰的安全指導。
He revealed that professionals inspect the heavy machinery in the lab every two or three weeks to see whether anything needs to be replaced. Also, students can find operating instructions on the machines.
他透露到,每隔兩到三周專業人員會對實驗室中的重型機械進行檢查,以確保是否需要更換某些零件。此外,學生還可以在機器上找到操作說明。
However, Jiang emphasized that students cannot totally rely on teachers to ensure their safety in labs. There is usually only one teacher in the lab for every 30 students. “The teacher goes around and inspects students, but he’s unlikely to be able to keep an eye on each one all the time,” said Jiang.
然而,蔣開勛強調學生不能完全依靠老師來保證自己在實驗室中的安全。在實驗室,通常一個老師要負責30名學生。“盡管老師通常會四處走動來檢查學生的操作,但他不太可能始終照顧到每一個人。”
“Students need to follow instructions strictly and remain cautious about potential risks throughout experiments.”
“學生應該嚴格遵守實驗說明,同時仍要小心提防實驗過程中存在的潛在危險。”
Chen Ling, 21, is supposed to be using mice in an experiment. However, the little creatures look sick. They crouch in the corner of the cage with a dull look in their eyes.