PM2.5 rat experiment was misrepresented: expert  

复旦教授：“雾霾使鲜肺6天变黑”报道不实(图)

“太恐怖，雾霾能使鲜红色的肺6天就变黑，若形成黑肺，逆转几无可能。”昨天，一则触目惊心的新闻在网上引发热议，这让谈PM2.5色变的公众又一次陷入恐慌。昨天下午，该报道中的项目负责人、复旦大学公共卫生学院环境卫生教研室主任、博士生导师宋伟民教授对新京报记者称，该报道中的描述与事实不符，其本人没有接受过相关采访，也从未说过“若形成黑肺，逆转几无可能”的言论。[查看全文]

(ECNS) -- News broke Monday of an experiment that had turned a rat's lungs black by exposing it to polluted air, but a professor who led the experiment has since denied it as a rumor, according to the Beijing News.

The report by China Radio International (CNR) cited an experiment conducted at Fudan University. Researchers had allegedly found that a rat's lungs were heavily blackened by PM2.5 after the animal had been exposed to heavily polluted air for six days.

The report also provided shocking photo comparisons of the blackened and normal lungs.

But Song Weiming, the leading professor in the experiment, told the Beijing News that the CNR report was not consistent with his experiment.

"We took normal lungs from a healthy rat, then soaked them in a liquid containing PM2.5 particles for six days," Song said.

Song added that the lungs showed signs of turning black, but that the intensity of PM2.5 in the liquid was thousands of times higher than the air we breathe.

Song also said he did the experiment to investigate whether some medicines have the effect of moistening the lungs. He also denied having said in the report that "once lungs are blackened, it can't be reversed."

Fudan University said it would release a complete report later.

Pan Xiaochuan, an expert on public health at Peking University, said the experiment on rats can't be applied to humans.