A Leigh cockle fisherman has slammed the method of using mice to measure toxins in shellfish. Michael Bates says the test is unscientific.

Speaking after the Port of London Health Authority banned cockle fishing from Maplin Sands west, Mr Bates said: "You would have to eat your body weight in cockles to get sick. I have been eating them for years and they have never made me ill."

Published Friday August 9, 2002

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