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http://www.tldp.com/issue/167/algae.html
Actually, the algae isn't tiring me. I'm tired of the people trying to sell
it to me. Most blue-green algae is sold in a multi-level marketing scheme
through Cell Tech. Sellers see me, a physician, as a potentially lucrative
franchise to sell algae for them. So I get two or three sales calls every week
(once as many as twenty). Never mind that selling algae to make myself money is
a conflict-of-interest and an unethical ploy already encouraged by
pharmaceutical companies ("The only solution I see for your diagnosis, Mr.
Smith, is blue-green algae, which I happen to have right here..."). I've tried
the algae and it doesn't do much for me. The cost/benefit ratio is poor.
Nevertheless, in the past three years I've received over 400 phone calls, dozens
of tapes in the mail, and had people barge into my office and home, all selling
algae. One salesperson has continued to call me for almost three years! So what
is blue-green algae and why does it make people so obnoxious?
I investigated the algae when one of my patients came in sick after eating some.
The patient had symptoms of poisoning caused by endotoxins or enterotoxins -
nausea, vomiting, fever, chills, malaise. I called the salesman who sold my
patient the algae, and he said these symptoms proved the algae was working, that
the patient's body was ridding itself of toxins. But this patient was a
vegetarian, lived in the country, exercised regularly, and was very healthy
before she ate the algae. Based on the salesman's reasoning, my reaction to
eating algae should have been ten times more nauseating, since I eat meat, drink
city water, live in a moldy home, listen to Lou Reed records, etc.
The species of blue-green algae sold by Cell Tech, scientific name
Aphanizomenon flos-aquae, is one of six species of blue-green algae known to
produce toxins.1 When I searched the scientific literature, most of the
information regarding A. flos-aquae was not about health benefits, but health
hazards.2 A. flos-aquae is the green pond scum that sewage engineers constantly
try to control. It kills fish, livestock, wild animals, and people's pets. The
reason why more people aren't poisoned, one researcher noted, was the repelling
appearance of A. flos-aquae-contaminated water. The literature is full of ways
to eradicate it with chlorine, copper sulfate, and other compounds. A.
flos-aquae proliferates in sewage and other waters rich in nitrogen and
phosphorus. Upper Klamath Lake, where Cell Tech harvests its algae, is a shallow
eutrophied lake full of nitrogen and phosphorus from animal feces. Klamath Lake
lies along a migratory bird flyway, and large colonies of pelicans poop there
year-round in a protected sanctuary. The August 1995 issue of Vegetarian Times
describes the lake as pretty polluted. Three epidemic fish kills have occurred
there recently, due to algal blooms.
Toxins may also come from
bacterial contaminants. Pathogenic bacteria luxuriate in water with a slightly
basic pH, like water found in Klamath Lake.3 The mucilaginous sheath encasing A.
flos-aquae and Spirulina spp. provides a strong anchor for adhering bacteria.
Most Spirulina cultivators recognize this problem and pasteurize their product.4
Cell Tech substitutes expensive pasteurization with a "heat-sanitize"
process.5 Toxic samples of A. flos-aquae are frequently infested with
gram-negative rod bacteria.6a
A. flos-aquae also produces
hepatotoxins and neurotoxins. Some of these are carcinogenic.6b Others are
acutely lethal. The LD50 of one hepatotoxin, microcystin-LR is a mere 50 ”g/kg,
compared to cyanide's LD50 of 10,000 ”g/kg.7 Neurotoxins produced by A.
flos-aquae include neosaxitoxin and anatoxin.8 Anatoxin is a chemical cousin to
cocaine. Anatoxins may be the reason why people eating blue-green algae
sometimes feel energized. Some people also describe being addicted to blue-green
algae. Animals are known to develop a fatal attraction to mats of blue-green
algae washed up on shorelines.9 Anatoxins are neurotoxins and eventually destroy
brain cells.10 And contrary to claims by Cell Tech, toxins have been
found in A. flos-aquae coming from Klamath Lake.6,11,12 Cell Tech
reportedly tests their algae for these toxins. But in 1984 batches of blue green
algae distributed by Cell Tech were found to be toxic and seized by the FDA.13
According to a company posting, tests for toxins are run every other
day.14 Cell Tech uses a "bio assay" anatoxin test (which means they inject mice
and see if the mice die - PETA are you reading me?).
Luckily,
it seems these toxins rarely arise in Klamath Lake. But why eat algae with such
toxic potential? Spirulina, a blue-green algae marketed by other companies,
never produces anatoxin nor microcystin. Dry Spirulina contains 66% protein,15
compared to 63% in dry A. flos-aquae "Alpha Sun."3 Spirulina contains
about the same or more B vitamins than A. flos-aquae, with the exception of B12.
Spirulina also contains more calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, copper,
manganese, and chromium than A. flos-aquae, but less iron, iodine, fluorine,
selenium and molybdenum.16
Despite these facts, or perhaps
because of them, Cell Tech slams Spirulina as a vastly inferior food.3
Cell Tech's literature is full of corporate hype. The bogus health claims
made by Cell Tech distributors really make me mad. At last count, A. flos-aquae
has cured over 600 diseases, including Alzheimer's and AIDS. These claims are
creating large expectations in the public. And when these expectations go
unfulfilled, the public may turn cynical and stop buying not only blue-green
algae but all herbal remedies. The algae/herbal market will crash. (Cell Tech
itself is already diversifying its product line, going into telecommunications.)
The Cell Tech distributors will dash back to their old jobs, and people like
myself, who worked with herbs long before Cell Tech came along, will remain
behind to begin rebuilding the public's faith in herbal medicine.
Blue green algae is a lot like the Kombucha tea - of dubious benefit and
full of potential danger. But while most Kombucha is distributed free as an act
of caring and love, Cell Tech made $50 million off its algae last year, and 54ą
of every dollar's worth of algae goes to sellers as a commission.3 I
realize this article may anger some people distributing blue-green algae. I'm
sorry. But I hope they'll stop asking me to buy and sell the stuff.
Epilogue
The above article was published in a local publication, the
Vermont Alternative Medicine Newsletter. A mere three days after mailing the
newsletter around Vermont, I received a nasty phone call from Cell Tech in
Oregon. Cell Tech makes Super Blue-Green AlgaeȘ (SBGA), and they didn't like my
article. They rudely assumed I was "paid off by the Spirulina people." They
refused to believe that I wrote the article on my own, for nothing. The concept
of doing something for free seemed very foreign to them (although Cell Tech does
understand tax write-offs, from which they generate hype about corporate
humanitarianism). Cell Tech has paid people to write propaganda for them, and
they have paid off critics to stop writing. Needless to say, they haven't paid
me off yet!
Christian Drapeau, Cell Tech's Director of
Research, sent me a letter saying I "obviously lacked the scientific training
and background necessary to correctly interpret the scientific literature that
is available on blue-green algae." The arrogance! I've published more research
in the scientific literature than Drapeau has; I've probably published more
articles than Cell Tech's entire research department. The point of my article on
SBGA was not whether SBGA has scientific nutritional value. It most certainly
does (albeit at a terrible cost-to-benefit ratio). My article took issue with
the greedy misconduct of Cell Tech distributors, spewing their half-truths and
lies to generate sales commissions.
Drapeau missed my point.
Instead he vigorously denied that Cell Tech's algae have ever produced toxins in
Klamath Lake. For every scientific publication stating the species has produced
toxins,6,11,12 Drapeau devised some contradictory flim-flam defense. On several
occasions he even contradicted himself. Drapeau did correct me on one point: the
FDA never seized algae produced by Cell Tech. The FDA seized algae sold by
Victor Kollman, Cell Tech's predecessor. After Kollman was busted for fraud, his
brother, Daryl, took over the algae business and Daryl created Cell Tech and its
cult of personality.
I received several pro-algae letters from
Vermonters; 100% were Cell Tech distributors. Nobody wrote a positive note who
didn't have a vested interest in Cell Tech. I heard from six people with bad
"algae stories," who suffered many side effects after taking SBGA, including
nausea, vomiting, chills, fever, anxiety, psychosis, and even hepatitis.
Since the printing of my article I've seen other authors issue
warnings about blue green algae in Scientific American, Vegetarian Times,
Natural Health, and Prevention. Are they all just crying sour grapes because
Daryl Kollman is a millionaire? I think not. It seems SBGA, like many species of
blue green algae, is encased by a mucilaginous sheath, which provides a strong
anchor for adhering bacterial contaminants. One such bacterium associated with
blue green algae is Legionella pneumophila, the cause of Legionnaires disease.17
Another bad bug, Vibrio cholerae, can actually live inside blue green algae.18,
19 Drinking V. cholerae-contaminated water causes cholera, if the bacteria
survives passage through the stomach. Protection within algae may aid the
bacteria's passage through the gastric acid barrier.20 Algal protection also
allows bacteria to survive in aquatic conditions that would normally kill them.
McCarthy & Khambaty21 suggest this is how cholera spread from Bangladesh to
Latin America - first V. cholerae attached to algae in polluted Bangladesh
water, then cargo ships took on the algae-infested water as ballast, sailed to
Peru and Mexico, discharged their ballast, the cholera reverted to an infectious
state, and started a New World epidemic. Ships are now required to discharge
their ballast on the high seas to reduce the possibility of introducing
pathogens into U.S. coastal waters.
I'm not saying Cell Tech
sells algae contaminated by Legionella pneumophila or Vibrio cholerae. But has
anyone looked for these organisms? Both are extremely difficult to isolate in
vitro.19 According to Epstein,22 algae-disseminated disease will increase on a
global scale due to global warming. Like Cell Tech's propaganda, Epstein sees
blue-green algae looming large over the 21st century. But Epstein is not happy
about it.
Correspondence:
John M. McPartland, DO
Director, Vermont
Alternative Medicine
53 Washington Street
Middleburg, Vermont
05753
USA
Peer Review
The manuscript has undergone truthful peer
reviews by another health practitioner, Dr. Matheson; an author/medical
researcher, Dr. Roos; and researcher, Dr. Soons. Their letters are enclosed. All
references directly support the statements and assertions of my article. No
conclusion or summary statement of any reference is in opposition to my premise.
I have not been paid to write this article. I do not work for a proprietary
company which will benefit by publication of this article. I do not sell or
provide a product or service which will benefit by publication of this article.
References
1. Gorham PR. 1964. Toxic algae, pp. 307-336 in Algae and
Man, Jackson DF, Ed., Plenum Press, NY.
2. Alam M, Euler KL. 1981. Chemical
studies on toxins from the blue-green alga Aphanizomenon flos-aquae, pp. 405-414
in The Water Environment: Algal Toxins and Health. Ed. WW Carichael, Plenum
Press, NY. 491 pp.
3. Kollman DJ. 1994. Product Information Booklet: The
Miracle of Super Blue GreenȘ Algae. Cell Tech, Klamath Falls, OR. 45 pp.
4.
Jassby A. 1988b. Some public health aspects of microalgal products, pp. 181-202
in Alagae and Human Affairs. Eds. CA Lembi & JR Waaland. Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, UK.
5. Drapeau C. 1996. Personal
letter to John McPartland, 8 April 1996.
6a. Ecker MM, Foxall Tl, Sasner JJ.
1981. Morphology of toxic versus non-toxic strains of Aphanizome |
