Scientists discover that harmful chemicals from Florida’s blue-green algae blooms are becoming airborne, potentially affecting people miles from contaminated water.
A new study reveals that toxins produced by cyanobacteria, commonly known as blue-green algae, are being released into the air in Southwest Florida, raising concerns about respiratory exposure to harmful compounds.
Researchers from Brain Chemistry Labs in Wyoming partnered with the nonprofit Calusa Waterkeeper to place purpose-built air samplers across multiple locations in Southwest Florida.
Every single sample collected contained a neurotoxin called 2,4-DAB, which is produced by cyanobacteria. This is the same toxin previously found in the brains of beached dolphins in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon, where the animals showed signs of Alzheimer’s disease.
Cyanobacteria are ancient organisms that helped create Earth’s oxygen-rich atmosphere billions of years ago. However, when waterways become overloaded with nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus, often from agricultural runoff or poorly treated sewage, these bacteria can multiply rapidly, forming dense blooms that release toxins into the environment.
Scientists have long focused on contaminated food and drinking water as the primary routes of exposure. But the new findings suggest that breathing contaminated air may be an equally important pathway. The airborne toxins were detected even in areas far from visible blooms, indicating that people don’t need to live close to contaminated water to be at risk.
The research team previously identified high levels of cyanobacterial toxins in the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers, which receive polluted water releases from Lake Okeechobee. Earlier studies have shown that people living near lakes and estuaries with frequent algal blooms face significantly higher risks of ALS, a progressive nervous system disease.
The Wyoming scientists have also linked cyanobacterial exposure to a spike in ALS cases among military veterans who served in Operation Desert Storm. Their research suggests that inhaling dust containing cyanobacteria from desert environments in Kuwait and Iraq may have contributed to the increase in neurological disease a decade after deployment.
The study’s authors emphasise that while people can avoid contaminated food and water, avoiding airborne toxins is far more challenging. They call for further research to better understand the public health risks of chronic, low-level exposure to these airborne neurotoxins.
Lead scientist Dr. James Metcalf said: ‘These data suggest that you don’t need to be close to toxic blooms to be exposed through breathing. 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.’
The full research can be read here.
Photo: Onur Polat
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