South Australians with asthma warned of ‘potential risk’ of toxic algal bloom as Senate inquiry begins

City of Charles Sturt staff clean up dead and dying sea creatures at Grange beach in late August as South Australia’s algal bloom crisis continues. Photograph: Tracey Nearmy/The Guardian

South Australians living with asthma or other types of respiratory illness have been warned of a “potential risk” posed by a toxic algal bloom dominating the state’s coastline at a Senate committee inquiry into the natural disaster.

The Senate committee had its first public hearing on Tuesday, and heard there were now toxins in the bloom that could exacerbate asthma; that very little was known about the species in the bloom, and that even its cause was not fully understood.