Warning over 'killer seaweed'

6 Aug 2009, 12:02 pm   -   Source: AAP/SBS
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Intensive agriculture has been blamed for a steep rise in the amount of seaweed on beaches

Intensive agriculture has been blamed for a steep rise in the amount of seaweed on beaches

Holidaymakers in France have been told to keep away from seaweed-covered beaches amid fears the algae could give off deadly fumes.

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Holidaymakers in France have been told to keep away from seaweed-covered beaches amid fears the algae could give off deadly fumes as it rots.

The UK's Times newspaper reports a stretch of beach in Brittany had to be closed after a horse rider lost consciousness and a horse died as a result of the putrefying weed.

Local residents have also been treated in hospital.

Intensive agriculture is blamed for the green seaweed spreading across the region's beaches as nitrates pollute the water supply.

Deadly gas build-up

Scientists say that as the seaweed - known locally as sea lettuce - decomposes, it forms an impermeable white crust under which hydrogen sulphide accumulates.

When the crust is broken, the gas is released, which smells like rotten eggs.

It attacks the nervous system and can kill a man or an animal within minutes, Alain Menesguen, director of research at the French Institute for Sea Research and Exploitation, said.

Some scientists believe that a build-up of hydrogen sulphide in the atmosphere wiped out the dinosaurs 300 million years ago.

 

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Your Comments

What a way to go!!

That's Horrible - from Perth, 3 years ago

What a nasty natural threat... seaweed is always finding new ways to threaten our lives...

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