"A week, ten days down the line we'll be in a position to say more. We obviously need to act fast: it midsummer and there's a risk of tourists deserting Liguria", says Environment Ministry Director General Aldo Cosentino in the lead-up to regional environmental agency, ARPA, reports on the nature and cause of poisonous algae findings. "As things stand we know basically nothing", Cosentino said, "We don't know whether the algae are tropical or whether the hundred odd cases of intoxication has a more human cause", e.g. industrial. "As well as the regional ARPA division we have [environmental protection agency] APAT looking into things", says Cosentino.

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