Curium beach poo will go to the US for conclusive testing
By Michael Anderle
Published on August 27, 2010
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OFFICIALS yesterday seemed to be at odds over the origin of faeces floating off the beach of Curium, near Limassol, since last summer.
Results from tests carried out by the Institute of Neurology and Genetics were not conclusive, prompting scientists to send samples to the United States for further analysis.
But Christofis Antoniou, the mukhtar of the neighbouring village of Episkopi appeared convinced that the faeces were not of human origin but came from sea-creatures
“The water is clear. There are not so many faeces and I personally go swimming there everyday,” Antoniou said.
He added that the test results found that the waters in the area are safe to swim in.
The British bases, whose territory includes the beach also appeared convinced that the waste was not of human origin.
Spokesman James Mansell however added that they would wait for the US tests for conclusive answers.
Cyprus Tourism Organisation official Glafkos Kariolou, who oversees the island’s beaches, said there was no definitive proof to point to either way.
Kariolou told the Cyprus Mail that three studies done by three different labs were inconclusive.
One of them said the excrement was possible of animal origin, while the other two, which were more detailed, indicated that the samples were altered in a way that no human or animal DNA could be detected.
The CTO official suggested it was wrong to incriminate the turtles.
“The British bases must pinpoint what events have occurred for this to happen,” Kariolou said. “They are attacking the turtles but what about the soldiers who are using the bays as army bases? I am not an expert on turtles but the faeces that the life guards found floating were simply too big to be that of sea turtles.”
The phenomenon was especially bad last summer but it now appears to have subsided.
Even the Turtles can't escape it!!!!
