'Killer' mussels found in Burnley canal (From Burnley and Pendle Citizen)
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'Killer' mussels found in Burnley canal
1:30pm Friday 22nd March 2013 in Burnley
By Peter Magill, Chief reporter
ALERT The drained canal at the Weavers’ Triangle
A HEALTH warning was issued today after people were seen harvesting potentially-fatal mussels from a drained canal bed in Burnley.
Engineers have emptied a section of the Leeds Liverpool Canal as part of culvert repair works at nearby Victoria Mill, exposing a channel filled with freshwater mussels.
Council officials said contractors had seen people clambering onto the canal bed and gathering the molluscs which could have been there for 200 years and are polluted with arsenic and lead.
Lancashire Telegraph health columnist Dr Tom Smith said: “The biggest problem would not only be the likes of arsenic and mercury but the bacteria on the beds which may cause e-coli and lead to a number of conditions.
“These may include leptospirosis, otherwise known as Weil’s Disease, which can be fatal and at the very least would cause gastroenteritis and diarrhoea.”
A half-mile stretch of the canal from Westgate to Sandygate has been drained so engineers can repair a culvert underneath the mills complex in the Weaver’s Triangle between Slater’s Terrace and Victoria Mill.
But the footpath on the far side of the waterway has remained open to walkers and cyclists.
An environmental health spokesman at the council said: “We would strongly discourage anyone who may have taken any of these mussels from eating them or handling them unnecessarily.
“Mussels are filter feeders and tend to accumulate any contaminants from the water around them.
“This might include bacteria and toxins, including heavy metals such lead, arsenic, mercury and cadmium.
“The mud and silt on the canal bed may also be contaminated.
“Anyone who has removed any freshwater mussels from the canal bed should dispose of them immediately or alternatively return them to a stretch of the canal containing water.”
Jack Spee, director of the Ribble Rivers Trust, said mussels have been spotted in Burnley waterways before, particularly the Brun, near Rowley Lake.
He said around 20 of the 30 known species of freshwater mussels can survive in canals.
He said: “Water quality is improving locally but mussels are filter feeders so they are sensitive to such factors.”
Chris Sears, of Accrington Road, who was using the canal towpath as a shortcut to the town centre with his partner Donna Duffy, said: “You wouldn’t get me eating those mussels - they’re too hazardous.”
Comments(19)
doctor1970
says...
4:21pm Fri 22 Mar 13
doctor1970
says...
4:22pm Fri 22 Mar 13
doctor1970
says...
4:41pm Fri 22 Mar 13
doctor1970 wrote:How does LT know how long the mussels have laid on the canal bed
Send some of the mussels to the rickwoods
doctor1970
says...
4:41pm Fri 22 Mar 13
Morag Crump
says...
4:59pm Fri 22 Mar 13
useyourhead
says...
5:19pm Fri 22 Mar 13
doctor1970 wrote:interview?
How does LT know how long the mussels have laid on the canal bed
POW WOW
says...
8:13pm Fri 22 Mar 13
doctor1970
says...
8:45pm Fri 22 Mar 13
woolywords
says...
8:49pm Fri 22 Mar 13
useyourhead wrote:You can't interview a mussel, as when they see a reporter, they just clam up.
doctor1970 wrote:interview?
How does LT know how long the mussels have laid on the canal bed
Morag Crump
says...
8:54pm Fri 22 Mar 13
woolywords wrote:LOL Wooly, very good.
useyourhead wrote:You can't interview a mussel, as when they see a reporter, they just clam up.doctor1970 wrote: How does LT know how long the mussels have laid on the canal bedinterview?
Cuttingsky
says...
9:40pm Fri 22 Mar 13
goz
says...
10:50pm Fri 22 Mar 13
poo banger
says...
11:31pm Fri 22 Mar 13
Blackburn lads working on a Burnley canal whats all that about?
woolywords
says...
12:13am Sat 23 Mar 13
poo banger wrote:When building the canal between Blackburn and Accrington, it took them 7 years.. Perhaps they have finally made it to Burnley.
whats more funny is the lads on community service on the right of the picture I recognize the team leader RB in the yellow vest, spent many a sunday morning sobering up along that canal lol
Blackburn lads working on a Burnley canal whats all that about?
2 for 5p
says...
4:34am Sat 23 Mar 13
woolywords
says...
6:27am Sat 23 Mar 13
POW WOW wrote:Don't tell anyone I told you this, as I wouldn't want word getting around but this appeared in the Blackburn edition, less than half an hour later...
They'll be on Burnley market tomorrow !!!!!!!!
http://www.lancashir
etelegraph.co.uk/new
s/blackburn/10308337
.Cheap_and_healthy_c
ooking_at_Blackburn_
market/
And you know what Burnley folk are like for rolling on the floor and laughing at Blackburn, at any given chance. This will only set them off.
POW WOW
says...
9:06pm Sat 23 Mar 13
mikebuk
says...
8:50pm Mon 25 Mar 13
Izanears says...
3:58pm Fri 22 Mar 13
Quite frankly I am now reluctant to eat shellfish of any sort wherever it comes from..