WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Fish in the Anacostia River have been found to have cancerous tumors at a rate as high as any other river in the United States, the Washington Post reported.
The newspaper report Wednesday of a government document to be released next month was illustrated with pictures of deformed fish. The Post said as many as two-thirds of the brown bullhead catfish pulled from the river during 2001 had liver tumors.
The study, prepared for the March issue of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, blamed the tumors on vehicle emissions and runoff pollution.
The paper said bullhead catfish are a good benchmark of the overall health of the river because they burrow in mud on the riverbed, coming into contact with sediment pollution.
It was the second study of the Anacostia in recent years. A report in 1996 found tumors in more than 50 percent of the fish, causing an environmental group to deem the body of water the most polluted river in the United States.
The Anacostia River flows from Maryland, east of Washington, through southern Washington about 1 1/2 miles south of the U.S. Capitol and into the Potomac River.
