Toxic seaweed closes French beaches

Polluted beaches on the coast of Britanny have been closed to the public amid fears that toxic seaweed on the French coast might endanger human life. The seaweed has been blamed for the deaths of dozens of wild boar, raising fears that humans might also be in danger.

Reuters/Benoît Tessier

The problem has occurred every year for about three decades with excess fertiliser filters into the sea spurring the growth of the seaweed.

Large quantities of seaweed then wash up on the shore and release toxic gases as they rot.

France's Environment Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet ordered the beaches closed but  did not specify which ones. It could be as many as 50, according to Claude Lesné, a researcher previously of the French national scientific research centre.

Kosciusko-Morizet stated that farming practices were largely to blame for the excess fertiliser, adding that a balance must be sought urgently between the demands of farming and the demands of tourism.