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hatrack

(59,592 posts)
Sat Apr 27, 2019, 09:21 AM Apr 2019

Blue Green "Algae" In Florida - Even More Toxic Than You Thought

Ed. - I have algae in quotes because that's its common name, though it's cyanobacteria.

EDIT

Blue-green algae are laden with microcystins that are a cause of non-alcoholic liver cancer. The algae blooms also produce BMAA (?-Methylamino-L-alanine), a toxin that is linked to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, ALS and Parkinson’s. Last year, Drs. Paul Cox and James Metcalf of Brain Chemistry Labs reported that microcystin levels in samples from Lake Okeechobee and the St. Lucie canal were 300 times the level recommended as safe by the United Nations. BMAA is a documented cause of Alzheimer’s and ALS. The University of Miami Brain Endowment Bank reported that the BMAA toxin is found in the brains of people with neuro-degenerative diseases.

Dr. David Davis, a neuropathologist at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, reported that monkeys fed BMAA developed early symptoms of ALS. Another study, from 2017, documented that monkeys given BMAA developed the amyloid plaque and “tau tangles” that are the symptoms of Alzheimer’s. Last month, Dr. Davis’ team reported that detectable levels of the BMAA toxin were found in the brains of dead dolphins that displayed degenerative damage similar to Alzheimer’s, ALS and Parkinson’s in humans.

High concentrations of BMAA have been found in the seafood in South Florida waters where blue-green algae blooms occur. Ingestion of BMAA contaminated food is known to lead to Alzheimer’s and ALS.

Toxins in blue-green algae are airborne: Dr. Elijah Stommel of Dartmouth reported that people living near bodies of water with heavy blue-green algae blooms had a 15 times greater chance of getting ALS. Research by Prof. Mike Parsons, a Florida Gulf Coast University marine biologist, found airborne cyanobacteria toxins a mile from retention ponds and three miles from the Caloosahatchee River. A study of air filters near bodies of water infected with blue-green algae along the Caloosahatchee River taken during the heavy blooms in 2018 by Dr. Larry Brand of the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Atmospheric and Marine Science is expected soon.

It is not alarmist to say that the people of Florida — especially people who come in contact with the infested waters or breathe the air nearby, and perhaps all of us who consume the fish and shrimp from Florida waters — are being slowly poisoned. Liver cancer, Alzheimer’s and ALS are terminal diseases; the toxins in blue-green algae kill people.

EDIT

https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article229490279.html?sfns=mo

14 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Blue Green "Algae" In Florida - Even More Toxic Than You Thought (Original Post) hatrack Apr 2019 OP
Yikes! Bluepinky Apr 2019 #1
Tragic The Blue Flower Apr 2019 #2
K & R mountain grammy Apr 2019 #3
Kick and recommend. Wow this is horrible. bronxiteforever Apr 2019 #4
Another "side effect" of climate change... Wounded Bear Apr 2019 #5
Yea, well.... paleotn Apr 2019 #6
Mississippi River Nutrient Loading modrepub Apr 2019 #8
Yet Republicans Work Overtime to Repeal "Onerous" Environmental Protections dlk Apr 2019 #7
Another reason not to go there ever again! kimbutgar Apr 2019 #9
Well... ChazInAz Apr 2019 #10
Senator Red Tide Rick Scott deserves a big thank you Submariner Apr 2019 #11
If only there was a way to get the infested waters to flow into Mar a Lago Fritz Walter Apr 2019 #12
Is this the same as the algae that safeinOhio Apr 2019 #13
After decades living on the SW FL coast, my father died of nonalcoholic liver disease femmedem Apr 2019 #14

bronxiteforever

(9,287 posts)
4. Kick and recommend. Wow this is horrible.
Sat Apr 27, 2019, 10:30 AM
Apr 2019

Florida is an environmental disaster zone and an example of what GOP policies will do to all of us.

paleotn

(17,947 posts)
6. Yea, well....
Sat Apr 27, 2019, 11:18 AM
Apr 2019

We need our industrially produced, winter fresh vegetables so pour on the commercial fertilizer!! Would you like a side of CO2 with your broccoli?

modrepub

(3,502 posts)
8. Mississippi River Nutrient Loading
Sat Apr 27, 2019, 11:27 AM
Apr 2019

Probably some truth to your point but I think a lot of the over-loading is from the Mississippi River. Lots of over fertilization and sewage treatment plant loading from those sources (and hardly a mention of the problem). Those red tides in the Gulf are noxious!

kimbutgar

(21,185 posts)
9. Another reason not to go there ever again!
Sat Apr 27, 2019, 11:29 AM
Apr 2019

I was telling someone I would never go there because of stand your ground laws. No Disneyland or take a cruise from there because Florida is a toxic dangerous place and now I read this!

Submariner

(12,509 posts)
11. Senator Red Tide Rick Scott deserves a big thank you
Sat Apr 27, 2019, 12:03 PM
Apr 2019

for causing much of the marine ecological damage.

That’s right, Florida did thank him by voting him in as their eco-terrorist senator. God job morons.

Fritz Walter

(4,292 posts)
12. If only there was a way to get the infested waters to flow into Mar a Lago
Sat Apr 27, 2019, 12:14 PM
Apr 2019

Swimming pool.
Fountains.
Indoor plumbing.

femmedem

(8,207 posts)
14. After decades living on the SW FL coast, my father died of nonalcoholic liver disease
Sat Apr 27, 2019, 06:43 PM
Apr 2019

and my mother has Alzheimer's. (To be fair, though, my father's disease was cirrhosis, not cancer.)

Anecdotal, but I wonder.

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