The Lingering Threat

The chemical spill into the Songhua River will linger for years, according to experts. The situation will not improve until the spring, when ice melt and spring rains will help flush the Songhua River of benzene and other contaminants. Meanwhile, the Russians are preparing for the spill entering their country in about two weeks.

Zhang Qingxiang, professor of environmental studies at Shanghai's East China University of Science and Technology, also warned that the Songhua's spring thaw could bring another wave of benzene contamination.

Authorities ``should pay much attention next spring when the ice is going to melt,'' Zhang said.

Even more serious were pollutants absorbed into the riverbed, including by aquatic plants and micro-organisms, Zhang said. Declining water quality could take 10 years or more to recover, he said, time enough for fish to introduce benzene into the food chain.

``This is going to break the ecological balance,'' Zhang said.

Although Chinese media has reported little about the possible long-term effects, fish and other aquatic products from the Songhua were being kept off the market.

The Chinese are limiting the amount of information? Say it isn't so. The Chinese Communists wouldn't do that to their comrades?

Would they?

Of course they would. The less information the public knows about the dangers, the less likely they are to get uppity with the local government, and the national government.