Can there be a danger of safety?

Question

I presume this is good Chinese, but I would appreciate your opinions, because it confuses me.

由于肥胖的形成原因很复杂，因此减肥药的研制困难重重，很多候选药物都存在严重的安全隐患。

It seems to say:

1. 很多候选药物存在 many candidate drugs exist

but 存在 must mean 有 here. 有严重的。。。。 Is 存在 often used this way?

2. 安全隐患 seems to say 'safe hidden dangers' which is somewhat paradoxical, 'safe dangers'. They might mean 'safety dangers, dangers to safety' but was there ever a 'safe danger'? The one excludes the other. They must of course mean potentially dangerous side effects.

I'm pretty sure I understand the sentence correctly, but is it good Chinese?

Answer 1

This is a frequent form of the verb 存在 which is used transitively (i.e. it accepts an accusative phrase).

You can break down the sentence as follows:

• 很多候选药物 -> (subject) many candidate drugs
• 都 -> (adverb) all
• 存在 -> (transitive verb) present
• 严重的 -> (noun modifier with 的, lax modification) serious
• 安全 -> (noun modifier without 的 = close modification) safety
• 隐患 -> (noun, object) hidden dangers, risks
  It is worth noting the difference between 严重的 and 安全. Grammatically they have the same purpose, i.e. modifying the noun, but the first is a pure adjective 严重 and is therefore "applied" to the noun by interposing a 的. The second 安全 has a double value both as noun, as in 安全第一 (safety first), or as adjective, as in 这个区域很安全 (this area is [very] safe). Here 安全 is used as an adjective. It doesn't require 的 because:
• 安全 is inherently a noun, and
• 的 would be used to determine the strength of the specification. 安全的 poses more emphasis on 安全 (risks [of/for] the safety); no 的 poses more emphasis on the modified noun, thus forming a phrase with 隐患.
  
  Finally you can translate the sentence as:
  All candidate drugs present serious safety risks.

Answer 2

 Is 存在 often used this way?

存在 :

1. (n) existence

example: 他的存在 = his existence

2. (adj) existing

example:存在風險 = existing risk

3. (v) to exist

example:(有)風險存在 = (has) risk exist

You can use 存在 as a verb, so it is possible, but a better choice of verb would be 存有(exist) which cannot be used as a noun or adjective, thus reduce chance of confusion. Or you can simply use 有(have).

A smoother writing should be:

"很多候选药物都存有严重的安全隐患。"Many candidate drugs have serious hidden safety risk." (存有 as a verb "exist")

The problem with using 存在 as a verb is : It is usually an intransitive verb (verbs that do not take an object; cannot be passive)

Answer 3

Only in computing and safety, 安全 means security. You cannot break away and recombine it with other terms.

信息安全 Information security

电脑安全 computer security

文件安全 document security

The original noun are actually direct translation from the English terms hidden security risks, hidden security dangers. This is a common terms use in security(safety) only.

In addition, Mandarin user already rephrase term "security" to 保安, use 保安隐患 to replace the confusing 安全隐患。 But poor habits dies hard, you will see some China IT expert use 安全隐患 instead of 保安隐患 .

For unknown reason, some China website reporter/editor start abusing the term and replace the common sense word : 危险 (danger)，隐患(hidden risks). Pretend it is a "passive" phrase of danger and hidden risk. Which in fact, it is NOT! 电脑保安隐患 or 电脑安全隐患 is a special terms. The meaning of SECURITY(safety) can never use to substitute the meaning of risk.

Read the sentences again, you will notice it's nonsense : untested medicine doesn't have "security risks"/"safety risks", but pose a "healthy risk" , or plain "risks"!

I.e. Which one do you think is correct ?

Most candidate drugs pose serious safety risks .

or

Most candidate drugs pose serious healthy risks.

Most candidate drugs pose serious safety issues.

So the whole sentences are actually poor translation work from a person that doesn't understand English and master mandarin poorly.

The correct term should be plain: 隐患/ 风险 /危险

So this will clear your confusion : 很多候选药物都存在严重的[隐患]

Unfortunately, there is still many contradicting terms abuse by poor quality translator out there.

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Update 1: Hong Kong and Taiwan will use 信息保安隐患/电脑保安隐患 to indicate Information security risk.

The most interesting part is the noun 安全 are only mean for two things : 1. Secure, out of danger 2. preservation

Update 2: Bare in mind that, China translation always suffered from poor command of English. Following is a good example of confusing term use : Paper that says human hand was 'designed by Creator' sparks concern. A English paper writer will never confuse about "natural selection" versus "creator".