Tsk tsk. I often perceive a superiority complex whenever I hear Hong Kongers talk about the mainland - we're more democratic, more free, more civilized etc etc
They do have machines to measure soil water and air, which is how they determined that cyanide levels were x00 times greater than government standards. However, it can be difficult to extrapolate from particular data what the cocktail of myriad hazardous chemicals floating around in Tianjin will mean for the human body. Hence, animals provide a model system to study as they have physiologies of varying similarity to our own. This is why all new medications go through animal testing before moving on to clinical trials: at this point in time, we have determined that animal lives are worth sacrificing for the benefit of our own. In this light, if the government is releasing animals to later study the effect of the environment on their bodies, it's not controversial at all.
However, I must speculate on the (un)reliability of tabloid news. I, like you, live in part of the free civilized world where we are also blessed (or cursed) with tabloid news. To keep it short, they're not the best source of information and should at the very least not be taken at face value. Tall tales are a thing in Chinese culture.
They do have machines to measure soil water and air, which is how they determined that cyanide levels were x00 times greater than government standards. However, it can be difficult to extrapolate from particular data what the cocktail of myriad hazardous chemicals floating around in Tianjin will mean for the human body. Hence, animals provide a model system to study as they have physiologies of varying similarity to our own. This is why all new medications go through animal testing before moving on to clinical trials: at this point in time, we have determined that animal lives are worth sacrificing for the benefit of our own. In this light, if the government is releasing animals to later study the effect of the environment on their bodies, it's not controversial at all.
However, I must speculate on the (un)reliability of tabloid news. I, like you, live in part of the free civilized world where we are also blessed (or cursed) with tabloid news. To keep it short, they're not the best source of information and should at the very least not be taken at face value. Tall tales are a thing in Chinese culture.
