DH Environmental Consulting

One of the top 10 news stories about water during 2012 was the one that entitled “Could tap water cause Lou Gehrig’s Disease” (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, ALS, an incurable neurodegenerative ailment). While the jury is still out on this one, and may be so for a while yet, nothing gets readers more stirred up than the possibility that your tap water could kill you – and in a not very nice way. Read more »

No, not talking about the lifecycle of puppies here, but fish.  Droplets readers will have seen last years posts on Lake Taihu in China, a very important water resource but one that is in a miserable condition.  All sorts of attempts are being made as part of desperate efforts to reduce the levels of nutrients fuelling algal blooms.  Now resort is to be made of algae-eating fish – i.e. install thousands of fish and hope they control the problem.

Authorities plan to release over the next few days about 470 tonnes of fish, mainly the silver carp, into the 2,400 sq km Taihu Lake that spans the Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces.

I have some serious doubts about this, for the following reasons: Read more »

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment, in conjunction with the Kansas State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, can confirm that toxic blue-green algae is responsible for the death of one dog and suspected death of two others.    The two dogs suspected of blue-green algae poisoning are presently undergoing testing at the K-State Laboratory. In all three instances, the dogs had been in the water at Milford Lake, which is in Clay, Geary and Dickinson Counties. Read more »

There appears to be more than enough evidence to support a working hypothesis that links a compound (BMAA) produced by all species of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) to motor neuron disease (see earlier blog post).  This possible linkage has been recently summarized in an article by Paul Alan Cox – who has done most of the groundwork on this theory.  Cox’s hypothesis is that BMAA can trigger brain disease only in people who are genetically predisposed.In most people, chemicals like BMAA cannot cross from the blood to the brain. Cox believes a small minority of individuals inherit a condition allowing BMAA to cross the so-called “blood-brain barrier.” Read more »

In a first for South Africa, Dr Bill Harding from DH Environmental Consulting (DHEC) will conduct a research survey to test for links between cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) and neurodegenerative diseases (Motor Neuron Disease, MND; Parkinsons Dementia Complex, PDC;  and Alzheimers). Read more »

Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) are on the increase globally.  HABs occur when large masses of potentially toxic algae develop in freshwater or marine environments. Typically these blooms are fuelled by increasing human pollution of our water resources, most commonly inadequately-treated wastewater, leading to high concentrations of plant nutrients in our dams and rivers.  A large percentage of South Africa’s water resources are already impaired by the sustained presence of blue-green algae.

Blue-green algae produce a large variety of toxins, singularly or in combination.  Recently it has become apparent that all types of blue-green algae produce an unusual neurotoxin, called beta-methyl-amino-alanine, BMAA.  BMAA in nature is only produced by blue-green algae (cyanobacteria). BMAA is neurotoxic and destroys nerve neurons (e.g. Vyas and Weiss 2009).

Research during the past 40 years has sought to link BMAA with motor neuron disease (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, ALS, Lou Gehrig’s Disease) and Parkinsons Disease (the so-called ALS-PDC, ALS/Parkinson’s Disease Dementia Complex).  This research has focussed on three locations in the western Pacific where considerably higher than normal incidences of these diseases occur (e.g. Bradley and Cox 2009).  BMAA has been measured in the brains of ALS-PDC cases, but not in control brain tissue, in the aforementioned clusters, as well as in Canada and elsewhere (e.g. Banack et al. 2009).  The effect of BMAA in Parkinson’s symptoms has been confirmed by dosing rats with the toxin (Bradley and Mash 2009).

Read more »