Environmental and health effects associated with Harmful Algal Bloom and marine algal toxins in China.
The frequency and scale of Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) and marine algal toxin incidents have been increasing and spreading in the past two decades, causing damages to the marine environment and threatening human life through contaminated seafood. To better understand the effect of HAB and marine algal toxins on marine environment and human health in China, this paper overviews HAB occurrence and marine algal toxin incidents, as well as their environmental and health effects in this country. HAB has been increasing rapidly along the Chinese coast since the 1970s, and at least 512 documented HAB events have occurred from 1952 to 2002 in the Chinese mainland. It has been found that PSP and DSP toxins are distributed widely along both the northern and southern Chinese coasts. The HAB and marine algal toxin events during the 1990s in China were summarized, showing that the HAB and algal toxins resulted in great damages to local fisheries, marine culture, quality of marine environment, and human health. Therefore, to protect the coastal environment and human health, attention to HAB and marine algal toxins is urgently needed from the environmental and epidemiological view.
Yan
Tian
T
Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, Shandong, China. tianyan@ms.qdio.ac.cn
Zhou
Ming-Jiang
MJ
D000647:Amnesia / Q000139:chemically induced; D000818:Animals; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D002922:Ciguatoxins / Q000633:toxicity; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000139:chemically induced; D004141:Dinoflagellida; D004777:Environment; D056890:Eukaryota / Q000737:chemistry*; D005068:Eutrophication; D005398:Fisheries; D005506:Food Contamination; D005517:Foodborne Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D007608:Kainic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000506:poisoning; D007928:Lethal Dose 50; D008387:Marine Toxins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000506:poisoning* / Q000633:toxicity; D020258:Neurotoxicity Syndromes / Q000209:etiology; D019319:Okadaic Acid / Q000506:poisoning; D035964:Oxocins / Q000506:poisoning; D010243:Paralysis / Q000139:chemically induced; D012623:Seawater; D057096:Shellfish Poisoning; D000095702:Polyether Toxins
D002922:Ciguatoxins; D007608:Kainic Acid; D008387:Marine Toxins; D019319:Okadaic Acid; D035964:Oxocins; C053342:brevetoxin; D000095702:Polyether Toxins; C012301:domoic acid