Green algae is collected from the beach at Saint-Efflam in Brittany
Posted on 08/05/2009 11:48:23 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Holidaymakers have been told to keep away from beaches in northern France covered in seaweed after doctors gave warning that it could give off lethal fumes when it rots.
A stretch of beach had to be closed after a horse rider lost consciousness as a result of the putrefying algae. His horse was killed. Local residents have also been treated in hospital.
Green algae is collected from the beach at Saint-Efflam in Brittany
The incident was in Brittany, where green seaweed is spreading across the region’s beaches as nitrates pollute the water supply as a result of intensive agriculture.
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.
Alain Menesguen, director of research at the French Institute for Sea Research and Exploitation, said: “This is a very toxic gas, which smells like rotten eggs. It attacks the respiratory system and can kill a man or an animal in minutes.” Some scientists believe that a build-up of hydrogen sulphide in the atmosphere wiped out the dinosaurs 300 million years ago.
Pierre Philippe, of the Lannion hospital in Brittany, said that hydrogen sulphide was as dangerous as cyanide. He said that he had treated several cases of poisoning caused by the seaweed among local residents, including a council worker paid to clear beaches of the algae who was taken to hospital in a coma.
The health scare is a new blow to the French tourism industry, already suffering from a big fall in the number of British visitors.
The dangers were highlighted after Vincent Petit, 27, veterinary surgeon from Paris, said that rotting seaweed a metre deep had killed his horse last
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
The stench of a deadly concentration of H2S would be impossible to stomach, I’d think.
and here I thought it was only the french themselves that smelled that bad.
Hell, all the leftists want their societies to go “green” and when it does, they raise a stink.
Payback’s a bitch and you just don’t screw around with Mother Nature.
“Brown” (chemical fertilization) processes can be blamed here.
So that’s where “Soylent Green” comes from.
Why not call it “Organic Spinach” and sell it to the leftists and vegetarian freaks? A little “Paul Newman’s Own” salad dressing, mon ami?
Something too smelly for France?
erf pharts
H2S indeed smells like rotten egss, but (funny, I was just reading about it today) it has the add’l insidious effect of anaesthetizing the tissues inside your nose, meaning you’ll think you’re just smelling kind of rotten eggs but you’re inadvertently acquiring a possibly toxic dose and perhaps perm tissue damage. Dangerous stuff. Did I mention that it’s also highly flammable *and* has a fairly wide explosive range (~~4%-40%) *and* a pretty low ignition temperature (260 deg C)?
It’s narcotic and at first this affects only your ability to smell - so if you stop smelling it’s getting really dangerous.
It’s already coming from DC.
It's france.
That's not "collecting", that's harvesting.
They are either going to eat it or wear it or both.
Gotta be the BO.
Wow. I never knew it could kill you. Glad I read this article. Just file that one away under ‘obscure but useful survival information’.
I like France by the way. Lived there. Lovely country. Interesting nation of people. I’m just saying.
Same here tho the metro could be funky at times and I have had some cheese that was.......interesting
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.