TOXICITY TO HUMANS

FROM ALGAE BLOOMS IN FLORIDA

By William J. Skinner

Algae blooms in Lake Okeechobee, St. Lucie River and the Caloosahatchee River have been making the news for years in middle and south Florida.  People complain about the smell, dead fish, and the green guacamole goo that covers rocks, sand beaches, and boats tied to docks.  The complaints are responded to by Governor Declarations of warnings[1], court cases up to the 11^th Circuit against the operators of the Lake Okeechobee discharges[2], and by state and federal research projects to study what is going on.  But there is no resolution of the problem within sight for humans who want good health and depend on clean water or for businesses that earn money in fishing, recreation, and tourism.

            Algae or cyanobacteria are single cell organisms that have existed for millions of years on earth. The algae at question is called by several names.  Governor Scott’s Executive Order in 2016 called the algae “mycrocystis.”  “Microcystis is a genus of freshwater cyanobacteria which includes the harmful algal bloom Microcystis aeruginosa. The cyanobacteria can produce neurotoxins and hepatotoxins, such as microcystin and cyanopeptolin,” according to Wikipedia.com.[3]  See also[4]

            Researchers have called one of the toxins found in cyanobacteria blooms, BMAA (Beta-Methylamino-L-alanine).[5] Other more recently researchers say the toxin is a protein, alpha-Synuclein (αS), formed from norovirus infections in the gut.  “But too much αS — such as from multiple or chronic infections — becomes toxic because the system that disposes of αS is overwhelmed, nerves are damaged by the toxic aggregates that form and chronic inflammation ensues. Damage occurs both within the nervous system of the GI tract and the brain,” says Michael Zasloff, MD, PhD, professor of surgery and pediatrics at Georgetown University School of Medicine and scientific director of the MedStar Georgetown Transplant Institute.”[6] “Zasloff and his colleagues studied biopsy samples, collected at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, from 42 children with upper GI distress. They also looked at another population of 14 MedStar Georgetown University Hospital patients who received an intestinal transplant. This second group had documented cases of infection by Norovirus, a common cause of upper GI infection.”[7]

            So what happens to the brains of those who have the toxin?  To summarize quickly, I will quote Jon Palfreman, a medical documentary maker and Parkinson’s Disease patient, whose 2015 book brings up to date the various research strands.  He says “There’s a scientific consensus that once about 70 percent of dopamine-making cells in the substantia nigra die, the clinical symptoms of Parkinson’s kick in.  If everybody lived to be 120, then everybody would be hit with threshold just by aging.  But some individuals hit the threshold earlier and manifest symptoms – many, like me around sixty years old and some, much earlier.  In this case, other sources of cell death – genetic mutations or environmental toxins, for example – are likely involved in the decline in the reservoir of dopamine producing neurons.  And as the dopamine cells keep dying, the symptoms associated with Parkinson’s get worse and worse.”[8]

            Neurotoxins are toxic to the nerve system and brain.  Hepatotoxins are toxic to the liver. The toxins get into the body by drinking, eating or breathing, maybe swimming in a broader sense.  These toxins do not affect everybody.  Medical scientists are discovering the route to the brain is from the stomach in some cases.  Persons who have given their bodies to medical science for research have toxins in the brain.

             In 1999 the Florida legislature passed F.S. 379.2271-Harmful-Algal-Bloom (HAB) Task Force Act[9] and made an effort to fund some research for a short time.  There were no dissenting votes for this bill indicating there was no public disagreement with studying the problem.  Congress got involved at some point and made a federal case for research by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.[10]  At NOAA you will find HABs occurred all across the United States from the California coast to Lake Erie to New England and Florida.  Several other bacteria are implicated in these report studies.

          Florida officials assigned research tasks to three agencies -- Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the South Florida Water Management District to prepare a report titled, Lake Okeechobee Protection Plan (LOPP).  The last such report is dated March 2011.[11]  This 463 page report has one page on algae blooms covering the period from May 2004 to November 2009.  The hurricanes of 2004 and 2005 created HABs.

            The report authors claim “This document fulfills the requirement for a three-year update of the Lake Okeechobee Protection Plan (LOPP). It focuses on the progress of the three Coordinating Agencies in reducing phosphorus loads consistent with the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL)1 established for the lake as well as increasing storage to achieve healthier lake levels and reduce harmful discharges to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries. The document provides (1) an introduction detailing the purpose of the LOPP Update, legislative requirements, and a description of the Lake Okeechobee Watershed; (2) an overview of the Lake Okeechobee Protection Program, including a description of its components; (3) information on the current status of Lake Okeechobee; (4) challenges in the watershed; (5) a review of past and current activities with summaries of completed and ongoing projects and activities; and (6) strategies for moving forward to reduce phosphorus loads to the lake and increase storage, including funding requirements over the next three years, and other project planning elements.”[12] [footnote omitted.]

             This report appears to be the last LOPP update in this format as new report labels are now being applied to similar group of program reports.

             Since the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals did not rule on the merits of the conservation organizations’ claims in its June 19, 2017 decision, although the suit was pending since it was filed in 2012, the organizations are contemplating what to do next.  A review of their websites in July 4, 2017 found no mentions of this court decision or any plans for next steps.

             The Palm Beach Post on July 3, 2017 in an article titled “Scott sees Lake O dike fix as algae solution” by Joel Engelhardt mentioned several points.  The article updates Florida Governor Rick Scott’s efforts to obtain federal money to complete repairs to the Lake O dike by 2022 at a cumulative total of $922 million.    Interest groups disagree on whether this expenditure will solve the problems.  The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers says it must do a two or three year study to determine whether the water level in the dike can be raised if all the work is completed. 

            Congress appropriated $765 million for repairs during the Obama years.  Still to be done are 35 miles of seepage barrier and eight more culverts.  The Florida legislature in May 2017 at a special session appropriated $50 million for reservoir construction to take the water storage problem off of the Lake O dike.  Scott had asked for $200 million for a 60,000 acre reservoir, but this is shrunk to 17,000 acres with the smaller appropriation.  The corporate sugar farmers and several smaller farmers objected to the 60,000 acre project as it would reduce jobs and crops. The current Trump Administration budget has only $82 million in it now, less than half of the $200 million per year needed to complete the dike repairs.

            What I have tried to place before you for consideration is the serious danger that some of you and your families are facing by living where HABs occur more and more frequently.  I provide sources for a variety of important information points on this subject. Water is becoming a critical health and safety problem that cries out for sensible and workable solutions that can be obtained only with great political skill. 

             Do we have any Republican politicians who can define and accomplish what needs to be done?  Will any of them be elected to Congress in 2018?  Who are they and when will they file to be on the ballot?

             This article first appeared in the July 2017 newsletter of the Palm Beach County Republican Party. Mr. Skinner is a retired pharmacist and attorney.

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[1] Florida Governor Executive Order 16-155, June 29, 2016

[2]Florida Wildlife Mgmt, et al v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineer, 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals – June 19, 2017, Case No. 4:12-cv-00355.  Case dismissed under Federal Rule 19(b) for failure to join SFWMD in the suit.

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcystis,  Accessed July 2, 2017

[4] https://www.epa.gov/nutrient-policy-data/cyanobacteriacyanotoxins. Accessed July 6, 2017

[5] Paul Allen Cox, Ph.D. at Jackson Hole in TEDx talks. Oct. 31, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jWi6WQQ9wo

[6] Protein Associated with Parkinson’s Disease Linked to Human Upper GI Tract Infections, http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/676760/?sc=mwhr&xy=5040626.  Accessed June 27, 2017

[7] Ibid.

[8] Brain Storms: The Race to Unlock the Mysteries of Parkinson’s Disease, 2015, Jon Palfreman, Scientific American, 128, ISBN:  978-0-374-71185-0

[9] CS/2^ND ENG/SB 2038 passed the Senate on April 23, 1999 by a vote of 38-0. The bill then passed the House with one $3 million appropriations amendment on April 28, 1999 by a vote of 114-0, and the Senate concurred on April 29, 1999 by a vote of 9-0.  The Governor approved the bill on May 18, 1999, and designated Chapter No. 99-185.  The money was to be used for research by the Florida Marine Research Institute.

[10] For a 26 page list of NOAA reports on Harmful Algae Blooms (“HAB”), see https://search.usa.gov/search?affiliate=noaa.gov&commit=&page=24&query=harmful+Algal+Blooms&utf8=%E2%9C%93

[11] http://myfrontallobe.com/lopp_update_2011_3.pdf, Accessed July 1, 2017 

[12] Lake Okeechobee Protection Plan Update 2011, page 1,  https://sfwmd.gov/portal/page/portal/xrepository/sfwmd_repository_pdf/lopp_update_2011_ex_sum.pdf, Accessed July 2, 2017