薬剤薫蒸 -- drug fumigation?

[Warren Smith]

I am trying to figure out 薬剤薫蒸, which is quite tangentially included in this afternoon's patent, so the context is limited. What context there is is limited to the following:

医療施設で薬剤使用あるいは薬剤薫蒸する部屋

 

The obvious translation of 薫蒸 is, of course, "fumigation." "Fumigation" means to disinfect or kill vermin through chemicals, but I am not sure if "fumigation" has the same scope of as 薫蒸, which, for all I know, might mean merely to treat with a gaseous compound, in which case it could include something therapeutic (like infusing herbs into the steam in a Finnish sauna).  So what is this scope of this word "薫蒸"? Is this some sort of gas chamber for killing things, or might it be some sort of aromatherapy chamber? (Don't confuse the two in real life, or you might have problems!)

 

My question is compounded by the fact that I don't usually think of a "fumigant" as a "drug," but rather more of a 殺虫剤. Googits of "drug fumigation" online are usually either for herbicidal fumigation to kill drug crops, or in bad translations in product descriptions from Alibaba.

 

I guess I am thinking that  薬剤 seems inherently therapeutic (unless abused, of course), and 薫蒸 seems inherently NON-therapeutic, so I am having a hard time envisioning what is going on here…

 

Maybe I am parsing this completely incorrectly, and this is a room where the drugs are disinfected by fumigation, rather than the drugs being used in fumigation. This would make a lot of sense.

 

I considered attempting to avoid the problem altogether by leaving the ambiguity in the target phrase: "A room for drug use or drug fumigation in a medical facility." Unfortunately, if this is actually a therapeutic use of the drug, the choice of "fumigation" must be rejected...

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks.

 

Warren

 

 

 

 

 

[Dr. M. S. Niranjan]

On 2016/08/02 6:30, Warren Smith wrote:

医療施設で薬剤使用あるいは薬剤薫蒸する部屋

My hunch is that there are vapors of drugs in the atmosphere, and that is what is being meant by 薬剤薫蒸.It may not be for "fumigation" or for healing, but the vapors re in the atmosphere due to frequent exposure of those drugs to the atmosphere. Just a hunch, though.

Dr. M. S. Niranjan

[Alan Siegrist]

Warren Smith writes:

---

I am trying to figure out 薬剤薫蒸, which is quite tangentially included in this afternoon's patent, so the context is limited. What context there is is limited to the following:

医療施設で薬剤使用あるいは薬剤薫蒸する部屋

 

The obvious translation of 薫蒸 is, of course, "fumigation." "Fumigation" means to disinfect or kill vermin through chemicals, but I am not sure if "fumigation" has the same scope of as 薫蒸, which, for all I know, might mean merely to treat with a gaseous compound, in which case it could include something therapeutic (like infusing herbs into the steam in a Finnish sauna).  So what is this scope of this word "薫蒸"? Is this some sort of gas chamber for killing things, or might it be some sort of aromatherapy chamber? (Don't confuse the two in real life, or you might have problems!)

 

My question is compounded by the fact that I don't usually think of a "fumigant" as a "drug," but rather more of a 殺虫剤. Googits of "drug fumigation" online are usually either for herbicidal fumigation to kill drug crops, or in bad translations in product descriptions from Alibaba.

 

I guess I am thinking that  薬剤 seems inherently therapeutic (unless abused, of course)

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Not necessarily. I don’t think you should get hung up on 薬剤 being the equivalent of “drug.” My Shogakukan Bookshelf Basic dictionary includes this definition of Agent Orange:

Agent Orange

n.ｲ《まれに a- o-》(強力)枯葉剤:おもに1960年代にベトナム戦争で米軍が使用したジャングルや穀物を枯れさせる薬剤.

 

Certainly agent orange is considered a chemical agent, but no one would consider it to be a “drug” or “pharmaceutical” having therapeutic qualities.

 

So I think it would be reasonable to translate 薬剤薫蒸 as something like “fumigation with chemical agents.”

---

 

Best,

 

Alan Siegrist

Orinda, CA, USA

[Matthew Schlecht]

On Mon, Aug 1, 2016 at 5:30 PM, Warren Smith <warren...@comcast.net> wrote:

I am trying to figure out 薬剤薫蒸, which is quite tangentially included in this afternoon's patent, so the context is limited. What context there is is limited to the following:

医療施設で薬剤使用あるいは薬剤薫蒸する部屋

 

The obvious translation of 薫蒸 is, of course, "fumigation." "Fumigation" means to disinfect or kill vermin through chemicals, but I am not sure if "fumigation" has the same scope of as 薫蒸, which, for all I know, might mean merely to treat with a gaseous compound, in which case it could include something therapeutic (like infusing herbs into the steam in a Finnish sauna).  So what is this scope of this word "薫蒸"? Is this some sort of gas chamber for killing things, or might it be some sort of aromatherapy chamber? (Don't confuse the two in real life, or you might have problems!)

     Errrr..., yeah.
     Certainly, 薬剤 means "drug/medicine/pharmaceutical" in many contexts, but the broader meaning of 薬 encompasses things like reagents (試薬) and agrochemicals (農薬), i.e. "(biologically) active chemical agents".

     I'm pretty sure that once you are talking about "薬剤薫蒸 (or 薬剤燻蒸)", the discussion is not about aromatherapy or including Vicks VapoRub in your humidifier, but agents for killing vermin of various kinds.  The extremely eugenically minded would include some humans in that category, but the rest of us would be referring to arthropods, molluscs (slugs), rodents, bacteria, and molds as target organisms for the most part.

     I think "fumigation agent" should work for "薬剤薫蒸/薬剤燻蒸".

     The PDF accessible at: www.tobunken.go.jp/~ccr/pdf/43/04305.pdf discusses a number of 燻蒸処理に用いた薬剤, which include the ethylene oxide/methyl bromide mixture, sulfuryl fluoride, carbon dioxide, etc., so it's pretty clear that beneficial drug effects are not what is expected from these agents.

Matthew Schlecht, PhD
Word Alchemy
Newark, DE, USA
wordalchemytranslation.com

[Warren Smith]

Thanks. Yeah. I am aware that can mean chemical agent as well, but in most of the references I checked when it comes to how it is used (at least as "薬剤”as opposed to "科学薬剤"), it was being used as a drug (or a reagent for a pharmacological product or perhaps in biotech).I think I was getting confused because of the amiguity as to whether or not the 医療施設でthe 薬剤薫蒸 -- so my mind was on the therapeutic aspect, especially because 薬剤 as "drug" appeared a few words earlier...

 

I know I am splitting hairs here, but is there any difference between the words with 燻 (smoking) vs. 薫 (fragrance)? (The use of "fragerance" instead of "smoke" is one of the things that make me think of, again, of aromatherapy... Combined with the fact that I am unfamiliar with therapeutic practices that might be different from those in the US, so I didn't want to be too quick to jump to "fumigation," at least not without checking with my colleages.)

 

So, the "consensus" here would be "rooms wherein drugs are used in a medical facility, and rooms wherein fumigation with chemical agents is performed"?

 

Warren

[Warren Smith]

Sorry -- let me reedit my last posting (where I was interrupted by a visitor as I was writing it, and somehow "Send" was hit without me noticing...) (How embarassing! Yes, I am a perfetionel who's respected in this feeled...)

---

Thanks. Yeah. I am aware that can mean chemical agent as well, but in most of the references I checked when it comes to how it is used (at least as "薬剤”as opposed to "科学薬剤"), it was being used as a drug (or a reagent for a pharmacological product or perhaps in biotech).I think I was getting confused because of the ambiguity as to whether or not the 医療施設で  applies to the 薬剤薫蒸 -- so my mind was on the therapeutic aspect, especially because 薬剤 as "drug" appeared a few words earlier...

 

I know I am splitting hairs here, but is there any difference between the words with 燻 (smoking) vs. 薫 (fragrance)? (The use of "fragrance" instead of "smoke" is one of the things that make me think of, again, of aromatherapy ... Combined with the fact that I am unfamiliar with therapeutic practices that might be different from those in the US, so I didn't want to be too quick to jump to "fumigation," at least not without checking with my colleages.)

 

So, the "consensus" here would be "rooms wherein drugs are used in a medical facility, and rooms wherein fumigation with chemical agents is performed"?

 

Warren

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[Kirill Sereda]

Warren wrote:

 

>> So, the "consensus" here would be "rooms wherein drugs are used in a medical facility, and rooms wherein fumigation with chemical agents is performed"?

 

How about “rooms fumigated or treated with disease-preventing agents”

 

Kirill Sereda

[Herman]

On 01/08/16 21:05, Warren Smith wrote:
>
> So, the "consensus" here would be "rooms wherein drugs are used in a
> medical facility, and rooms wherein fumigation with chemical agents is
> performed"?
>

Unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, the same word used
analogously in the same sentence should be interpreted as having the
same meaning in both cases, so 医療施設で薬剤使用あるいは薬剤薫蒸する部屋 could
be rendered as, e.g., "rooms in a medical facility which are fumigated
with chemicals or in which chemicals are used".

Herman Kahn

[Warren Smith]

Brilliant, Herman!

I like your translation very much.

Full marks, with extra credit.

Thank you very much for your help.

Warren

[Alan Siegrist]

Warren Smith writes:

---

What context there is is limited to the following:

工場や医療施設で薬剤使用あるいは薬剤薫蒸する部屋

---

Based on my own original research (don’t ask), I restored the missing 工場や.

 

If this is how the original really goes, the correct translation is:

“rooms in factories or medical facilities where chemical agents are in use or where fumigation with chemical agents is performed.”

 

While we might think that 薬剤 could mean “drug” in the context of a medical facility, it is unlikely to take that meaning in a factory context, except of course in a pharmaceutical plant, of which there is no suggestion here.

 

Regarding the distinction between 燻蒸 and薫蒸, I believe this is a distinction without a difference; it is just the use of a different kanji variant. The word still means “fumigation.” See:

http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q10144765970

Q: 燻蒸と薫蒸は同じ意味でしょうか？

A: 薫蒸という言葉は知りませんでした。「燻蒸」のことではないですか。

「薫」は香りのことです。燻製なら薫製とも言います。

[Warren Smith]

Wow. You are absolutely right. (And I appreciate the extra research.)

 

Thanks!

 

Warren

 

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From: hon...@googlegroups.com [mailto:hon...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Alan Siegrist
Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2016 2:13 AM

To: hon...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: 薬剤薫蒸 -- drug fumigation?

[Matthew Schlecht]

     Perhaps a niggling point, but

On Mon, Aug 1, 2016 at 10:34 PM, Warren Smith <warren...@comcast.net> wrote:

"科学薬剤"

would be something like "active scientific agent", whereas "化学薬剤" would be "active chemical agent"

     Those homophones!

[Kirill Sereda]

Matthew wrote:

 

>> "科学薬剤" would be something like "active scientific agent"

 

Yes, I’ve read somewhere that this drug was recently developed by typo-prone scientists. 

 

Kirill Sereda