Concern about cyanide pollution is sprouting up in spots around the world in the wake of a massive spill at a Romanian gold-mining operation last month that killed hundreds of tons of fish in the Tisza and Danube rivers and contaminated the drinking water source for 2 million people. Chinese authorities have shut down nine factories pending an investigation of cyanide dumping in the Beijiang River in the Guangdong province, which borders Hong Kong. The Beijiang is a source of drinking water for millions of people downstream of electroplating factories. And a new environmental group in Colorado has drafted a ballot measure that would limit the use of cyanide at mines in Colorado, similar to an initiative approved by voters in Montana in 1998.
