Seafood gathering ban at radioactive Dalgety Bay has been extended

Emergency restrictions banning the gathering of seafood and bait from a beach affected by radioactive particles have been extended.

It became an offence earlier this month for seafood to be collected at Dalgety Bay in Fife.

The extension of the order, which originally lasted for 28 days, has been agreed by MSPs at Holyrood's Health Committee on Tuesday.

The move was a "precautionary measure" because of radioactive items on the beach, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in Scotland explained at the time.

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

The FSA said that warning signs had been in place at the beach for some time but added that new evidence indicated radioactive particles could be ingested by fish, including shellfish.

An assessment by the FSA said this could potentially pose a risk.

Health Minister Michael Matheson said: "The Food Standards Agency will review this order in light of new data from this work as well as data from seafood sampling being undertaken jointly by the Food Standards Agency and Sepa.

"The order will also be reviewed if remedial works are subsequently undertaken, which successfully remove the pathway by which particles could enter the food chain."

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

The contamination is thought to stem 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 Second World War.

A lump of contaminated metal was found on the beach in October last year, prompting the closure of part of the foreshore.

Last month, an investigation plan to establish how to clean up the beach was agreed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa).

The environmental body said then that it expects "remediation action to follow urgently" at the conclusion of the investigation.

The timescale for completing the five-stage plan, which includes surveying the area, sampling and analysis, is May 2013.

However, the report states "the intention is to complete each investigation stage as quickly as possible".

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