EBS STAFF
Brain Chemistry Labs, a nonprofit research organization based in Jackson, Wyoming, has identified airborne cyanobacterial toxins in southwest Florida, suggesting people can be exposed to the neurotoxin simply by breathing, even far from contaminated water.
Working with Calusa Waterkeeper in Fort Myers, the Jackson Hole-based team used specialized air detectors that all returned positive samples for 2,4-DAB, the same toxin the lab previously found in the brains of beached dolphins in the Indian River Lagoon in Florida showing signs of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a July 16 news release by BCL. The compound can be produced by cyanobacteria, which often appears as green or blue clouds on the surface of water.
“These data suggest that you don’t need to be close to toxic blooms to be exposed through breathing,” Dr. James Metcalf, lead scientist at BCL, said in the release. “We continue to find cyanobacterial toxins in air such as in our study of dust blown from the exposed lakebed of the Great Salt Lake in Utah.”
