"Stop feeding chicken feces to fish"

Says Vietnam Official:

HANOI - The practice of using chicken excrement to feed fish in southern Vietnam is threatening millions of people with bird flu in Ho Chi Minh City and should be stopped, state media said on Monday.

The Ho Chi Minh City Law newspaper quoted Dong Nai province residents as saying farmers there threw at least 100 tonnes of chicken excrement a day into Tri An lake, whose waters flow into Dong Nai river and run through the country‘s biggest city.

"Dropping chicken excrement into Tri An lake during the period when bird flu is evolving into a pandemic is extremely dangerous," Le Hoang Sang, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City‘s Pasteur Institute, was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

Chicken excrement is one of the main carriers of the H5N1 virus, which can survive in a cool and wet environment for a month and slightly less if in water, he said.