As summer gets into full swing over here in Europe, I return to a rather prickly subject – jellyfish.
A warning has gone out on the beaches of the Costa del Sol in Spain about the arrival of the potentially deadly Portuguese man o’war. This creature has tentacles that can be 30 yards long and are barbed with a sting ten times stronger than an ordinary jellyfish.
Xavier Pastor, from Oceana, an ecological campaigning group, said: “The Portuguese man o’war hasn’t been seen in the Mediterranean for a decade and its appearance could herald a process of colonisation, which has happened with other invading species.”
The Spanish are doing all they can to tackle the swarms of this and other potentially dangerous stingers. In the north-east area of Catalonia, where 20,000 people received treatment after being stung last summer, the authorities are using satellite images to track swarms. When they seem dangerously close to shore, boats will be sent to scoop them up.
It’s thought the large rise in the numbers of jellyfish is a result of global warming and the overfishing of predators.
Spain’s environment ministry is distributing leaflets alerting bathers to the dangers.
by Andy Moreton
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As surveys go, this one is pretty gross. Our friends at Tripadvisor.com have come up with a top five tourist attractions that could be bad for your health as they’re so germ-ridden. Here they are in reverse order:
At number 5 is the forecourt of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, where celebrities leave their hand- and footprints for posterity. Apparently, it’s covered in grime from the countless visitors who see if their hands and feet match those of the stars.
St Mark’s is a beautiful square in Venice, but it’s always suffered from a surfeit of hungry pigeons and the mess they leave behind. That brings it in at number 4.
At number 3 is Oscar Wilde’s tomb in Paris. People clearly like to kiss it, because it’s covered with lipstick prints. Yuk!
A wall outside Market Theatre in Seattle was placed runner-up in the survey. Since 1990, tens of thousands of people have stuck their unwanted chewing gum to the wall, turning it into a tourist attraction. The display was started by people waiting in line to visit the theatre. The wall has been scraped clean twice but is still covered with gum, some moulded into shapes and faces.
But the ‘favourite’ tourist attraction for picking up germs is the Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle near Cork in the Irish Republic. More than 400,000 tourists a year literally bend over backwards to kiss the Stone, as legend has it that it will give you the gift of eloquent speech.
by Andy Moreton
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A row has broken out in Australia after a bid by a New South Wales state politician to have topless sunbathing banned on Sydney’s famous beaches, including Bondi and Manly.
The Rev Fred Nile, a veteran morals campaigner, said: “The law should be clear. It must say exposure of women’s breasts on beaches will be prohibited.” Other politicians backed his stand. One said that families at the beach in summer did not want to see topless women.
The proposal prompted howls of protest from Sydneysiders, who have just begun their long summer holiday. Outraged callers deluged radio stations, and the ACT nudist club in Canberra, the national capital, warned that Australia was in danger of appearing like a ‘haven for prudes.’
Australians love their suntans and topless sunbathing has been common on most beaches since the 1960s. But the country also suffers the world’s highest rate of melanoma skin cancer. A new and graphic government advertising campaign warns there is no such thing as safe tanning, building on decades of similar official warnings.
New South Wales Assistant Health Minister, Jodi McKay, said banning topless sunbathing was a step too far. “We don’t want to go down the slippery slope of banning activities like this. What would be next, banning breastfeeding?”
by Andy Moreton
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Delhi Belly, Traveller’s Tummy, Montezuma’s Revenge – call it what you will, but most of us recognise that moment when the most crucial thing in the whole world is to find the nearest loo …
Now, a new skin patch being developed by the US biotechnology company, Iomai, could help the estimated 27 million people struck down every year with diarrhoea and sickness while on their travels.
Preliminary tests found that the patch, containing the toxin behind the most common forms of diarrhoea, prevented people falling ill and reduced discomfort for those already affected.
A study of travellers published in the medical journal, The Lancet, indicated that the patch could be 84 per cent effective against diarrhoea.
Dr Herbert Dupont, of the University of Texas, who helped test the patch, called it one of the most exciting developments in travel medicine. “People could buy this and put it on themselves whenever they take a trip. It’s the most convenient form of immunisation I’ve ever seen.”
by Andy Moreton
