Pollution must not be allowed to make people desperate

Today is World Environment Day and people need a clean environment, says an editorial on Beijing News (excerpts below).

"If I had explosives we would bomb the chemical plant nearby!" said a farmer in Zouping county, Shandong province. He was not the only one with such ideas – a recent investigation found people are deeply concerned about pollution.

An official report published on Tuesday also found that 57.3 percent of 4,929 underground water detection points recorded poor quality.

In a talk held by the National People's Congress in 2012, experts reported that mass protests have kept increasing by 29 percent annually since 1996. It will be dangerous if people become desperate; responsible departments need to take measures before it is too late.