Pollution turning China's Yangtze river "cancerous"

CHINA: China's famed Yangtze river is turning "cancerous" due to increasing pollution, putting at risk the drinking water for Shanghai and many other cities along its banks, state media said Tuesday.

Yuan Aiguo, a professor with the China University of Geosciences, told Xinhua news agency that authorities should pay urgent attention to the pollution woes in the Yangtze, which is China's longest river and third longest in the world.

"Many officials think the pollution is nothing for the Yangtze... but the pollution is actually very serious," said Yuan, while Xinhua described the state of the water as "cancerous".

Liu Guangzhao, another scientist, was quoted as saying the Yangtze was in danger of becoming a "dead river", with many plant and animal species already disappearing.

There were 126 animal species living in the Yangtze in the mid 1980s, but the number was down to 52 by 2002 due to the pollution, he said.

Beijing, Tuesday, AFP