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SHARK ATTACKS, TOXIC LOBSTER, CONTAMINATED BEACHES EVERYWHERE
It’s not just recent shark attacks that should keep people from swimming in the ocean off South Carolina’s coast, but now government warnings of toxic lobster and bacteria-infested beaches.
On Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning that lobster caught off the South Carolina coast could be toxic.
The government is warning that the soft, green substance known as tomalley in lobsters, could be dangerous. The Food and Drug Administration says it is still okay to eat the white meat in the claws and tails, but the substance inside the body cavity could be poisonous. Symptoms only take an hour to appear, and include tingling, numbness of the mouth, face or neck… and headache or nausea. [AP]
Also on Tuesday, the Natural Resources Defense Council released a report that said South Carolina still had the highest percentage of ocean water samples exceeding federal bacteria safety limits in the Southeast.
The state ranked sixth-worst nationally in that category.
A spokesman for the state Department of Health and Environmental Control, which monitors beach waters, said the agency hadn’t had a chance to study the report.
“We don’t know how they have construed that data and put it together so we’re just not in a position where we can discuss a whole lot about the report,” spokesman Adam Myrick said. [RON BARNETT - Greenville Online]
OK, maybe it’s not as bad as the picture above, but I’ve never been so glad to live inland in my life. Of course Columbia’s not exactly a perfect specimen of cleanliness, but it still sounds better than that.
Either way, I’m glad to hear DHEC has heard about the study and decided to do what they always do: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
Dude, LEARN TO WRITE. I couldn’t even finish reading this blog post after the first sentence:
“It’s not just recent shark attacks that should keep people from swimming in the ocean off South Carolina’s coast, but not government warnings of toxic lobster and bacteria-infested beaches.”
Whhaaaaa? That’s not even a complete sentence.
Hey Adam,
Absolutely nothing? If we at DHEC were doing absolutely nothing, we wouldn’t be bothered with doing the testing and reporting to the U.S. EPA. That’s where the NRDC got their information.
The problem, as we pointed out to the NRDC and a number of reporters who contacted us, was that the data was either misinterpreted or misconstrued by the NRDC. Why? You’ll have to ask them.
South Carolina’s reporting data is on our Web site at http://www.scdhec.gov.
When Ron Barnett of The Greenville News contacted our office, we had not seen the specifics of the report as the NRDC did not share information or a copy of the report before they released it to the media. That’s OK with us but it does make it tough to respond to something without the benefit of reading the report or knowing the methodology they used to make their judgements.
We understand there are those who feel we’re not doing “enough” in the way of environmental protection. There are also those who complain that we do too much. As a friend and former colleague once told me, “If you’ve made a decision or enforcing something in which no side on the issue is completely happy, then you may find you’re right where you need to be.”
Have a good day, Adam.
Hell, you can’t even SWIM in the Saluda!