Farmers' remedies pose risk to human health

BEIJING - Zheng Lin was not looking forward to filing the results of his quality survey this month. As a researcher for Dongying's ocean and fisheries department, he discovered two of nine sample sea cucumbers had excessive levels of antibiotics.

"It is common for fish farmers to use antibiotics to keep their fish healthy," said the 26-year-old, "but if the amount surpasses the national standard it can harm humans (who eat the fish)."

Among the antibiotics most commonly found in fisheries in northern Shandong province are chloromycetin, nitrofuran and malachite green.