Beach ban extended over radioactivity fears

A BAN on gathering seafood and bait from a beach where radioactive particles were found has been extended.

It became an offence earlier this month for seafood to be collected at Dalgety Bay in Fife after an emergency order was put in place.

The extension of the order, originally for 28 days, has been agreed by MSPs on Holyrood’s Health Committee.

The move was “precautionary” due to radioactive items on the beach, the Food Standards Agency ) in Scotland explained at the time.

There is no commercial fishing or shellfish industry in the area, but individuals are known to collect shellfish.

Radioactive material was first found on the foreshore of Dalgety Bay in 1990.

The contamination is thought to be from residue of radium-coated instrument panels used on military aircraft which were incinerated and put in landfill in the area at the end of the World War 2.