Mankind has entered the 21st century, and the world has undergone many amazing changes. While people are delighted with the rapid development of science and technology, they have also experienced greater uneasiness and even disaster. In addition to the panic caused by the development of high technology, especially biotechnology, war and disease seem to have brought mankind directly to the gate of hell.
The epidemic of SARS in 2003, including all speculation about SARS, is directly related to a global issue of growing concern: biosecurity. Biosafety is a scientific and technological system for the detection, evaluation, monitoring, prevention and management of biological hazards. It is the study of the impact of various biological factors on human health, the application of existing theoretical knowledge, technology, engineering design and equipment, etc., to prevent It is an emerging frontier discipline in which the personnel, laboratories and environment involved in the work are endangered by potentially infectious substances and biotoxic substances. Biosecurity issues are at least manifested in the following aspects:
The huge harm of infectious diseases
Infectious diseases include human, animal, and plant infectious diseases, especially human infectious diseases are the most important Regarding biosecurity issues, infectious diseases are still the number one cause of death in the world. In our country, infectious diseases still seriously threaten people's health and national security. The epidemic of SARS is a strong proof. In addition, infectious diseases such as hepatitis, tuberculosis, and influenza are still prevalent or break out in some parts of the country and some countries and regions in the world every year
Potential threats of biological weapons and bioterrorism
The entire international community in the 20th century Society has made unremitting efforts to ban biological weapons and has made some progress. However, in the 21st century, the potential threat of biological weapons has greatly increased. Some countries and regions may continue to research and develop biological weapons. In addition, the rapid development of biotechnology has greatly increased the potential threat of biological weapons, such as the "Anthrax Incident in the United States". "Bioterrorism as a symbol has posed a real threat to international security. Yuen Kwok-yung, chairman of the Department of Microbiology at the University of Hong Kong, was the first scholar to isolate a coronavirus and discover that coronavirus variants are the causative agent of SARS. SARS virus is an RNA virus. The characteristic of this virus is that it can easily recombine with other viral genes and become a new virus. Moreover, many experimental results also show that the new viruses produced through this change will be more virulent than the parent viruses. Coronavirus can be found in many animals, and this virus can easily mutate and is extremely dangerous. Therefore, Yuan Guoyong believes that the SARS virus has great potential and can become a pathogen for the production of biochemical weapons in addition to smallpox.
The negative effects of biotechnology
The negative effects of biotechnology are mainly as follows: First, unexpected safety problems may arise when people develop and utilize biotechnology. Just as there is widespread concern about the harm to biodiversity caused by the release of various genetically modified living organisms into the environment. In addition, genetically engineered drugs, vaccines, genetically modified foods, gene therapy, etc. may have similar problems. Misuse of biotechnology and unethical applications of biotechnology may also pose significant safety risks. The study of somatic human cloning is a prominent example.
Threats to biological resources and biodiversity
From a biosecurity perspective, the invasion of alien species and the loss of biological resources may cause huge damage to national interests. The environmental release of genetically modified organisms poses a great threat to biodiversity.
Safety hazards in microbiology laboratories
Compared with other physical and chemical laboratories or other types of laboratories, the microbiology and biomedical laboratory is a special laboratory in which Everyone who works and the surrounding environment in contact with them is at high risk of contracting infectious diseases or affecting their health. Omissions and accidents in microbiology laboratory management can not only lead to infection of laboratory workers, but also cause environmental pollution and large-scale population infection. Accidental infections in laboratories at home and abroad are not uncommon. In severe cases, tens of thousands of experimental animals have to be slaughtered, and even laboratory workers die.
With the rapid development of biotechnology, biosafety issues have become a major issue affecting the politics, economy, security and peace of the entire country and the entire world. In recent years, especially after the "anthrax infection incident" in the United States, biosafety issues have attracted much attention at home and abroad. Biosafety terms are often seen in government or non-governmental organization documents and in various media. The global epidemic of SARS will undoubtedly make countries around the world pay more attention to biosecurity issues and regard them as an integral part of national security.
With the development of the economy, the acceleration of people's pace of life and the improvement of living standards, the amount of plastic used
is increasing day by day. In 1996, my country's plastic packaging consumption reached 2.43 million tons, with an average annual growth rate of more than
20%. In particular, plastic waste in garbage in cities, along major transportation lines, and tourist attractions has increased rapidly.
According to surveys, Beijing's annual domestic waste production has reached 3 million tons, of which waste plastics account for about 3%, with an annual growth rate of 48%. The plastic content of garbage in coastal cities is higher, reaching 8-10%. The proportion of these waste plastics in the garbage has reached more than one third if calculated by volume, and it has greatly increased the difficulty and cost of garbage disposal.
Since waste plastic is difficult to degrade for hundreds of years, if it is discarded in the natural environment, it will provide a breeding ground for mosquitoes, flies and
bacteria; if it is buried underground, It easily pollutes groundwater, hinders the growth of plant roots, damages soil quality, and affects crop harvests; if burned by fire, a variety of toxic gases will be produced. "White pollution" has become a major public hazard that harms our country's social environment and has seriously hindered the sustainable development of our country's economy and environment.
At present, the annual consumption of disposable tableware in our country is about 10 billion pieces, mainly foam plastic products. It is necessary to prohibit the production, sale and use of these large-volume and wide-ranging disposable tableware.
Foam plastic tableware requires the development and production of alternatives, and green disposable tableware emerged at the historic moment. Relevant experts believe that the development and production of green disposable tableware is becoming an emerging environmental protection industry in my country.
In mid-December, the Ministry of Science and Technology, together with the State Economic and Trade Commission, the State Environmental Protection Administration, and the Ministry of Railways, jointly held a green disposable tableware technology development exchange meeting. At the meeting, reporters interviewed Head of the Rural Technology Development Center
Wang Zhixue and managers of several production enterprises.
Wang Zhixue said: The green disposable tableware currently developed and produced in my country can be divided into paper pulp, rice husk, straw and starch according to the type of raw materials. There are hundreds of companies producing paper disposable tableware in my country, with an annual production capacity of approximately 3 billion pieces.
The raw material production process of paper tableware is seriously polluted, the cost is high, and its strength and waterproof and moisture resistance
are poor. Therefore, its promotion and application have great limitations. Sex, people naturally look elsewhere and seek benefits from science and technology. For example, rice husk is used as raw material to produce rice husk tableware. There are now more than a dozen companies of this type in my country, with an annual production capacity of about 150 million pieces; straw tableware is mainly made of crop straw.
Raw materials: my country currently has more than a dozen manufacturers with an annual production capacity of 75 million pieces; starch tableware uses potatoes
Starch is the main raw material. It has good degradability and can be recycled Later it can be used as feed. All in all, the country attaches great importance to the research and development of green disposable tableware, and provides strong support through scientific and technological development plans such as scientific and technological research, Spark Plan, and Torch Plan. The company's green disposable tableware production technology is relatively mature and has the foundation for industrialization.
Wuhan Far East Green World Group Co., Ltd. is a company that uses starch as raw material to carry out technological research and development of green disposable tableware,
and has begun to take shape in economic benefits. The experience of Su Xiaohai, the president of the company, is quite legendary:
He originally studied arts and crafts at Hubei Institute of Light Industry. In 1984, he entered Wuhan University to study for a master's degree in philosophy
and later While studying and working in Germany, he was deeply touched by the environmental protection in Europe, and he came up with the idea of ??returning to China to engage in the environmental protection industry. Su Xiaohai told reporters: I studied arts and crafts and am an aesthete. My involvement in environmental protection causes such as green tableware today originated from my initial understanding of beauty; and the continuation of aesthetics
>Extension, in the final analysis, is also a philosophy.
Between 1992 and 1996, Far East Green World developed recycled cardboard disposable tableware and reed pulp
Due to low technological content and other reasons, the production scale of molded tableware It has never been able to expand. In 1996, the company sent personnel to inspect the technical situation of biodegradable packaging products in the European market and believed that the development of plant starch production
fully degradable disposable tableware may be the key to eliminating "white pollution" a way. In 1997, composed of a group of food, chemical, and mechanical experts, the company focused on investing in the development of fully degradable disposable catering supplies. This project was included in the 1997 National Torch Plan projects.
They absorbed foreign advanced technology and combined it with domestic paper tableware production technology to carry out a series of innovations: using
domestic sweet potatoes, corn and other starches that are rich in resources as the main raw materials, instead of The single higher-priced potato starch from abroad is replaced; 20% of natural fiber is added to the sweet potato starch raw material, which increases the obvious strength of the tableware. The processing technology of food puffing makes the product light weight and soft; the surface spraying and shaping equipment to increase the strength make the food and beverage products produced have waterproof, oil-proof and heat-resistant functions. Su Xiao
Hai made a vivid metaphor: It is like the steel and cement in building materials. Sweet potato starch is the cement, and
the various hay and hay that are chopped and mixed are The rhizomes of the plants are the steel bars, so that the strength of the tableware can be significantly enhanced
.
The starch-based tableware products produced by Far East Green World are tested by the German SGS agency with reference to international food packaging standards.
The tableware products are filled with hot water and hot oil at 100 degrees Celsius. It does not deform at all for more than two hours and has excellent thermal insulation performance. Since starch and additives are natural plant raw materials, the product has excellent degradation performance. Tests by the National Environmental Testing Center show that it can degrade more than 90% in about 10 days and can be completely degraded within a month.
According to reports, since the project uses plant starch and plant fiber, the cost is low. Each rice box with rice bowl
costs about 0.12 yuan, and rice box without rice bowl and bowl. , the listing cost is about 0.07 yuan, and it has broad market prospects.
Currently, Far East Green World plans to invest 160 million yuan to build a large-scale factory with an annual output of 5 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks and 3.5 billion pieces of various
bowls, plates, boxes and other products. The fully degradable green disposable tableware production base, after the project reaches full production, can add an annual output value of 625 million yuan and an additional profit and tax of about 130 million yuan. The civil construction project of the base started in March this year.
A standard factory building of 20,000 square meters has been built. If follow-up funds can be guaranteed, it is expected to reach production by the end of 1999.
Su Xiaohai Said: Our scientific and technological advantages are obvious, and the social benefits we can create in the future are also obvious: the functional indicators of disposable sanitary chopsticks made of starch can completely replace disposable wooden chopsticks. This project can save nearly 500,000 cubic meters of wood resources for the country every year. If the group can reach production, it is expected to use more than 200,000 tons of sweet potatoes every year to process them into starch. With more than 100,000 tons of raw materials, it can also lift more than 100,000 people in poor areas out of poverty and promote the development of agricultural industrialization in old areas.
Shantou Luheng Industrial Co., Ltd. has been developing green disposable tableware made from rice husks in the past few years. At present,
it has initially acquired the ability to produce on an industrial scale. The company produces Disposable packaging containers made of rice husks, especially food packaging containers used in supermarkets, have begun trial sales in Japan, Taiwan, the United States and other countries.
The green disposable tableware produced by Luheng Company is made by crushing and sifting rice husk, then mixing it with several edible organic polymer adhesives and water, and then Through stamping, drying, spraying and other processes, plates, bowls and other utensils of different shapes are produced.
Ji Xiaopeng, general manager of Luheng Business Co., Ltd., said: Disposable tableware is made of rice husk, which is not only rich in resources in our country and inexhaustible, but also It can be quickly degraded in the soil after use, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.
Lvheng Company currently has a production line in operation, with an investment of approximately 9.8 million yuan and a production capacity of 400,000 pieces of tableware/day, currently reaching 200,000 pieces of tableware/day. sky. The annual output value is about 36 million yuan, the investment recovery period is expected to be about one and a half years
and the investment profit is about 30%. The production technology and product quality have passed the certification organized by the Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Commission
Technical appraisal and inspection by the food hygiene department. According to reports, in order to better bring products to the market and operate on a large scale, the company plans to establish a group company in the near future and invest funds in technological transformation in order to improve production
The line is more automated.
According to the green tableware technology development exchange meeting hosted by the Ministry of Science and Technology, on July 18, 1998, Vice Premier Wen Jiabao attended a meeting on the prevention and control of water pollution in the Taihu Lake Basin. It specifically proposed to solve the "white pollution" along the Yangtze River, Taihu Lake and
railway within one year, requiring relevant departments of the State Council to focus on three tasks. First, strengthen management,
prohibit Littering; second, stop using disposable foam plastic tableware; third, develop and mass-produce alternatives as soon as possible. On November 14, Vice Premier Li Lanqing also raised the issue of the promotion and application of foam plastic tableware alternatives at the 12th National Patriotic Health Campaign Committee working meeting. It seems that green disposable tableware has attracted great attention from central leaders and relevant departments such as science and technology and environmental protection. As an emerging environmental protection industry, it can be said that it is born. It's just the right time. Now, we need our scientific and technological personnel who can climb the peak of science to continue to engage in research and development. We need our entrepreneurs who know business and are good at management to increase technological innovation and market development. , we also need our far-sighted financiers and venture capitalists to provide sufficient capital investment for the industrialization of green disposable tableware.
Most of the enterprises in my country engaged in the development and industrialization of green disposable tableware currently have small production scales and weak ability to withstand the storm
And many of them are private enterprises and need Government departments should provide sufficient industrial policy support and guidance to get a good start, so that this emerging green environmental protection industry can develop healthily and sustainably.
Science Technology is the primary productive force and the concentrated expression and main symbol of advanced productivity. I have said that in order to develop productivity and improve economic efficiency, we must first rely on the development of science and technology. From the perspective of the elements that constitute productivity, science and technology can continuously improve and update labor tools, improve the quality of workers, and make full use of labor objects. In short, scientific and technological development can greatly liberate productivity and even create new industrial sectors and lead to rapid advancement of the national economy. We must adhere to the strategy of rejuvenating the country through science and education so that we can shift the economic growth model away from the old and extensive path and shift it to a track centered on improving economic efficiency, and truly pay attention to the quality and efficiency of economic development.
The essence of competition in today's world is economic and technological competition. Economy is the foundation and science and technology is the leader. Developing the economy will help enhance our country's comprehensive national strength and enable our country to participate in international competition on a larger scale and at a higher level.