BELUGA CANCER
June 1st, 2002
BY PHILIP FINE, in Quebec City
BELUGA whales in Quebec's St. Lawrence River have the highest cancer rates of any wild animal in the world, according to a researcher looking at 17 years of deaths among the white-backed cetaceans. Université de Montréal Professor Daniel Martineau studied carcasses of 129 belugas and, among his adult subjects, recorded a 27 per cent rate of cancer. Toxic sediment caused by years of nearby aluminum smelter effluence is being blamed.
ENDS
BELUGA whales in Quebec's St. Lawrence River have the highest cancer rates of any wild animal in the world, according to a researcher looking at 17 years of deaths among the white-backed cetaceans. Université de Montréal Professor Daniel Martineau studied carcasses of 129 belugas and, among his adult subjects, recorded a 27 per cent rate of cancer. Toxic sediment caused by years of nearby aluminum smelter effluence is being blamed.
ENDS
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