The latest issue of PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, US)
has a report that concludes that ALL CYANOBACTERIA (including that expensive
stuff from Klamath Lake) has the potential to produce neurotoxins.

As the report is new, I doubt that the Klamath algae sellers are directly
testing for the listed toxin. However, their indirect (animal) tests may be a
sufficient alternative.

Diverse taxa of cyanobacteria produce -N-methylamino-L-alanine, a neurotoxic
amino acid

PNAS | April 5, 2005 | vol. 102 | no. 14 | 5074-5078
Paul Alan Cox et al.

Adstract at:
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/102/14/5074

Abstract:
Cyanobacteria can generate molecules hazardous to human health, but production
of the known cyanotoxins is taxonomically sporadic. For example, members of a
few genera produce hepatotoxic microcystins, whereas production of hepatotoxic
nodularins appears to be limited to a single genus. Production of known
neurotoxins has also been considered phylogenetically unpredictable. We report
here that a single neurotoxin, -N-methylamino-L-alanine, may be produced by all
known groups of cyanobacteria, including cyanobacterial symbionts and
free-living cyanobacteria. The ubiquity of cyanobacteria in terrestrial, as
well as freshwater, brackish, and marine environments, suggests a potential for
wide-spread human exposure.

Full text, free access, at:
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/102/14/5074

As always, I strongly encourage people to read the full text of the article
before commenting.

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Tom Billings