Questions remain over long-term health effects of blue-green algae
Coughing, wheezing, and rashes. Those are just some of the health problems readers are telling us about when it comes to previous bouts of blue-green algae in Southwest Florida. “It’s hurting our tourism. It’s killing dogs and livestock and fish,” said David Spiers, who works for a company that’s working to kill blue-green algae blooms as we saw in 2018. The state’s Blue-Green Algae Task Force is talking about the issue in Naples. And it’s so serious, Florida’s surgeon general Scott Rivkees made an appearance.
He says, “Health effects for blue-green algae toxins have been recognized for almost 1,000 years.”
The big question remains: What are the long-term health effects of the algae?
Florida’s state toxicologist Dr. Kendra Goff says, “We still don’t have a lot of information about what is going on with the longer-term impacts.”
Which also makes it hard to predict when harmful algae will show up.