TOXICITY OF THE BLUE-GREEN-ALGA (CYANOBACTERIUM) MICROCYSTIS-AERUGINOSA IN DRINKING-WATER TO GROWING PIGS, AS AN ANIMAL-MODEL FOR HUMAN INJURY AND RISK ASSESSMENT
Ir. Falconer et al., TOXICITY OF THE BLUE-GREEN-ALGA (CYANOBACTERIUM) MICROCYSTIS-AERUGINOSA IN DRINKING-WATER TO GROWING PIGS, AS AN ANIMAL-MODEL FOR HUMAN INJURY AND RISK ASSESSMENT, Environmental toxicology and water quality, 9(2), 1994, pp. 131-139
Hepatotoxins from blue-green algae are increasingly recognized as a po
tential hazard in drinking water supplies. The clinical consequences o
f ingestion include acute or chronic liver injury, with the possibilit
y of enhanced susceptibility to, and growth of, liver tumors. To estab
lish guidelines for water safety requires the demonstration of dose-de
pendent effects of toxicity and experimental determination of maximum
''no-adverse-effect levels.'' This paper describes the use of growing
pigs as a model for human injury resulting from Microcystis toxins in
drinking water. Risk assessment calculations using a series of safety
factors are carried out, resulting in a guideline level after incorpor
ating an additional safety factor for tumor promotion of approximately
1.0 mug toxins/L. With the Microcystis used for this trial, that conc
entration corresponds to 5000 cells/mL. (C) 1994 by John Wiley & Sons,
Inc.