Toxicity of green algae: a study launched in Brittany
AP | 14.08.2009/19/15 | XNUMX:XNUMX p.m.
Two weeks after the sudden death of a horse and the discomfort of its rider on a beach in Côtes-d'Armor, the government decided on Friday to conduct a study on the toxicity of green algae in Brittany. Local associations do not doubt that the gases released during the decomposition of these algae are responsible after several similar incidents.
Yves-Marie Le Lay, who chairs the Safeguarding Association of Trégor, thus evokes the case of a machine operator who, in 1999, while collecting green algae, struck a large pile of plants with his backhoe loader, probably releasing a gas pocket. He had passed out while driving and was in a coma for four days, according to Le Lay.
Michel Guillemot, president of the association Halte aux marées verte, reports for his part that "every year", collection workers complain of headaches and irritated eyes.
According to them, two dogs died last year on a beach in Hillion, in the bay of Saint-Brieuc, after inhaling hydrogen sulfide emanating from decomposing algae.
The latest incident, involving a rider and his horse, occurred on July 28 on a beach in Saint-Michel-en-Grève, according to the Côtes-d'Armor prefecture. "The horse died in a minute" and "the rider almost died too," reported Yves-Marie Le Lay, contacted by phone by The Associated Press.
A collector of algae who was nearby rescued the rider, who was hospitalized and "ventilated" during one night, said the president of the Safeguarding Trégor association. According to him, if he had stayed a minute longer, "he was likely to suffer the same fate as the horse."
For the moment, "we have doubts" but "we are not sure about the link between the death of the horse and the presence of algae", underlined for his part Philippe Beuzelin, chief of staff of the Prefect of the Côtes -d'Armor, interviewed by the AP. He specifies that the horse is stuck in a deep mudflat.
Horse blood tests are being analyzed in a specialized laboratory in Strasbourg. The results were expected this Friday or Monday, he said. If the tests were positive, it would be the "first time where, with certainty, we would have the link established between the presence of algae and the death of an animal", noted Mr. Beuzelin.
The Ministry of Ecology announced Friday the launch of a study on the toxicity of green algae in Brittany. INERIS (National Institute for the Industrial Environment and Risks) will "take air samples from the algae clusters". It will have to "specify the levels of hydrogen sulphide present in the masses of algae" and "to identify possible other toxic compounds", according to the press release of the ministry. "The results of these analyzes should be known in the middle of next week."
"It would still be high time that he reacted," commented the president of the association Halte aux marées verte. Yves-Marie Le Lay, from the Safeguarding Association of Trégor, for his part announced his intention to file a complaint against the prefect for "deliberate endangering of the life of others" next week at the Guingamp court.
Green algae are picked up daily, after each tide that deposits them, by polluted municipalities. "If they are cleared the same day, they do not represent any danger", noted the chief of staff of the prefect of Côtes d'Armor. According to Philippe Beuzelin, the problem lies in areas that are difficult to access for tractors, where algae accumulates. "After several days they start to ferment and that's when they start to be dangerous."
If the analyzes confirm this dangerousness, the prefecture will ask the mayors to take orders prohibiting walking in polluted areas.
Local associations believe that the pollution comes from intensive livestock farming and the cultivation of corn, which dump nitrates and fertilizers into the waterways. In the mouths where water laden with nitrogen stagnates, green algae proliferate, especially in summer, when the temperature heats up and the luminosity increases.
"As long as we do not reduce the animal herd, there will be no solution", considers Michel Guillemot.
But for Philippe Beuzelin, "we continue to pay the consequences of what was widespread in the 80s and 90s". According to the chief of staff of the prefect, "even if we stopped all agricultural production, all use of pesticides today, we would have green algae for another 20 years. It will not stop immediately." AP
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