Occurrence of Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms Workgroup Report (original) (raw)

Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology

Agency. Thanks are also due to Dr. Jeffrey Johansen of John Carroll University for his review and revisions to the Section 4 discussion of the current status of taxonomy of cyanobacteria. Special thanks to the workshop co-chairs: Jim Sinclair, PhD, US Environmental Protection Agency, Office Water, Cincinnati, Ohio and Sherwood Hall, PhD, Food and Drug Administration, CFSAN, Laurel, Maryland, who co-managed the process of preparing the manuscript. rine resources, fish and shellfish harvests and recreational and service industries along US coastal waters. In 2004, as part of its reauthorization, HABHRCA requires federal agencies to assess CHABs to include freshwater and estuarine environments and develop plans to reduce the likelihood of CHAB formation and to mitigate their damage (NOAA 2004). Many federal agencies recognize the potential impacts of CHABs and share risk management responsibilities; an interagency task force was established and charged to prepare a scientific assessment of the causes, occurrence, effects and economic costs of freshwater. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has included "cyanobacteria (bluegreen algae), other freshwater algae, and their toxins" in its Contaminant Candidate List (CCL) as one of the microbial drinking water contaminants targeted for additional study, but it does not specify which toxins should be targeted for study (EPA 2005b). Based on toxicological, epidemiology and occurrence studies, the EPA Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water has restricted its efforts to 3 of the over 80 variants of cyanotoxins reported, recommending that Microcystin (MC) congeners LR, YR, RR and LA, Anatoxin-a (AA) and Cylindrospermopsin (CY) be placed on the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR) (EPA 2001). The EPA uses the UCMR program to collect data for contaminants suspected to be present in drinking water that do not have health-based standards set. This monitoring supplies information on the nature and size of populations exposed to cyanotoxins through tap water use. Various federal agencies are mandated to address CHABs and their impacts, which commonly have been managed on a case-by-case, somewhat fragmented basis. A new national US plan, the Harmful Algal Research and Response National Environmental Science Strategy (HARNESS), is "designed to facilitate coordination by highlighting and justifying the needs and priorities of the research and management communities and by suggesting strategies or approaches to address them" (HARNESS 2005). CHABs cross all four critical areas identified for harmful algal research and response: bloom ecology and dynamics; toxins and their effects; food