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'It can kill you in seconds': the deadly algae on Brittany's beaches | Environment | The Guardian
Activists say stinking sludge is linked to nitrates in fertilisers from intensive farming
André Ollivro stepped carefully down the grassy banks of an estuary in the bay of Saint-Brieuc, Brittany, not far from his beachfront cabin. The pungent smell of rotting eggs wafting from decomposing seaweed made him stop and put on his gas mask. It was a strange sight in what is usually a tourist hotspot.
“You can’t be too careful,” said the 74-year-old former gas technician, who is leading the fight against what has come to be known as France’s coastal “killer slime”.
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Algal 'blooms' along the coast of Brittany have become a serious health problem, affecting not only local inhabitants but also serving to kill off a once thriving tourist industry. The cause: the vast mats of algae give off highly toxic hydrogen sulfide gas as they decompose. Hydrogen sulfide is as lethal as hydrogen cyanide & smells like rotten eggs. This gas has resulted in the deaths of animals as well as humans along the coast.
After WWII, Brittany became the agricultural center for France, with intensive raising of pigs & the growing of vegetables. The resulting excess fertilizer & animal waste is rich in both nitrogen & phosphorous. It runs down estuaries into the sea, resulting in these algal blooms.
See Harmful algal bloom - Wikipedia
Activists say stinking sludge is linked to nitrates in fertilisers from intensive farming
André Ollivro stepped carefully down the grassy banks of an estuary in the bay of Saint-Brieuc, Brittany, not far from his beachfront cabin. The pungent smell of rotting eggs wafting from decomposing seaweed made him stop and put on his gas mask. It was a strange sight in what is usually a tourist hotspot.
“You can’t be too careful,” said the 74-year-old former gas technician, who is leading the fight against what has come to be known as France’s coastal “killer slime”.
=============================================
Algal 'blooms' along the coast of Brittany have become a serious health problem, affecting not only local inhabitants but also serving to kill off a once thriving tourist industry. The cause: the vast mats of algae give off highly toxic hydrogen sulfide gas as they decompose. Hydrogen sulfide is as lethal as hydrogen cyanide & smells like rotten eggs. This gas has resulted in the deaths of animals as well as humans along the coast.
After WWII, Brittany became the agricultural center for France, with intensive raising of pigs & the growing of vegetables. The resulting excess fertilizer & animal waste is rich in both nitrogen & phosphorous. It runs down estuaries into the sea, resulting in these algal blooms.
See Harmful algal bloom - Wikipedia
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