{"id":7588,"date":"2024-08-14T09:51:30","date_gmt":"2024-08-14T09:51:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/urgent-tests-underway-after-walsall-canal-cyanide-spill\/"},"modified":"2024-08-14T09:51:30","modified_gmt":"2024-08-14T09:51:30","slug":"urgent-tests-underway-after-walsall-canal-cyanide-spill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/urgent-tests-underway-after-walsall-canal-cyanide-spill\/","title":{"rendered":"Urgent tests underway after Walsall canal cyanide spill"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\"BBCBBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A major incident was declared on Tuesday as the leaked chemical was confirmed to be sodium cyanide<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Public health bosses say they hope to start reducing restrictions \u201cvery quickly\u201d on a 12-mile stretch of canals in the West Midlands following a toxic chemical spillage.<\/p>\n

Sodium cyanide, which can cause seizures, vomiting and loss of consciousness, was confirmed on Tuesday as the chemical spilled into the waterway in Walsall.<\/p>\n

People have been urged not to go near a long section of the canal network and towpaths from the middle of the borough to Birmingham and including connected waterways in Wednesbury, Tipton and West Bromwich.<\/p>\n

The authority’s interim director of public health, Nadia Inglis, said they were \u201cdoing things cautiously but as quickly as we can”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“We\u2019re testing all points of that affected area currently and we\u2019ll be reviewing those result as they come through,” she added.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019ll be removing those restrictions and hopefully reducing the size of that potentially affected area where we are confident there isn\u2019t a risk to health.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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There were a number of dead fish in the canal<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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The exclusion zone markers run from the Walsall lock flight to lock flights at Rushall\/Ryders Green in the borough and Perry Barr in Birmingham.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, council leader Garry Perry said it was too early to speculate how the substance entered the waterway but promised regular updates as a major incident was declared.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"WalsallWalsall Council<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

People were still being urged to avoid a 12-mile stretch of the canal network on Wednesday morning following the spill<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Sodium cyanide dissolves in water and can have serious adverse health effects if people or pets come into direct contact with it, the council advised.<\/p>\n

The chemical, a white crystal-like solid with a faint almond odour, is used in industry for metal cleaning, plating and extraction, and photography.<\/p>\n

The UK Health Security Agency said<\/a> exposure could cause symptoms including headaches, nausea, dizziness, loss of consciousness, seizures and vomiting.<\/p>\n

Anyone exposed to the water who felt unwell should seek medical advice through the NHS 111 service or phone 999 in an emergency, a spokesperson for the authority added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Walsall Council leader Garry Perry said on Tuesday it was too early to speculate on how the cyanide got into the canal<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Ms Inglis added: \u201cOur primary aim has been to keep the public safe and to protect their health and wellbeing.<\/p>\n

“Given the nature of the substance, we\u2019re taking a cautious approach to protecting our public until we know it\u2019s safe to open those canal towpaths again.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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BBC A major incident was declared on Tuesday as the leaked chemical was confirmed to be sodium cyanide Public health bosses say they hope to start reducing restrictions \u201cvery quickly\u201d on a 12-mile stretch of canals in the West Midlands following a toxic chemical spillage. Sodium cyanide, which can cause seizures, vomiting and loss of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[4221,4294,2905,74,4135,1551,4293],"class_list":["post-7588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uk","tag-canal","tag-cyanide","tag-spill","tag-tests","tag-underway","tag-urgent","tag-walsall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7588"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7590,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7588\/revisions\/7590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}