Toxicology and Risk Assessment of Freshwater Cyanobacterial (Blue-Green Algal) Toxins in Water

The adverse effects of cyanobacterial toxins were first reported as stock deaths at Lake Alexandrina, South Australia, in 1878. Since then, cyanobacterial poisonings in animals and humans have been widely reported around the world (Codd and Poon 1988). In fact, cattle and wildlife mortality from cyanobacterial poisonings is relatively common in many countries (Carmichael 1981). Animals that have been killed in large numbers include cattle, sheep, pigs, birds, and fish; small numbers of deaths of horses, dogs, rodents, amphibians, and invertebrates have also been recorded (Codd and Poon 1988). According to the compilations of Carmichael (1992a), approximately 85 animal poisoning incidents related to cyanobacterial blooms have been recorded around the world from 1878 to 1991.