Zebra mussels, introduced to the Great Lakes in the mid-1980s after governments failed to act to curb alien species in the ballast water of oceangoing ships, are themselves introducing an alarming phenomenon to inland lakes in the Basin. Award-winning environmental reporter Jeff Alexander of the Muskegon Chronicle reports:
Scientists who recently tested algae scum on Muskegon Lake found elevated concentrations of microcystins. When ingested via drinking tainted water, the naturally occurring poisons can cause vomiting, diarrhea, fever, rashes, throat irritation and, in extreme cases, liver damage and cancer.
"I don't want to scare people, but the levels of microcystins we found are significant. These are very high concentrations and are on the same order of magnitude as the highest concentrations of microcystins ever reported," said Gary Fahnenstiel, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Lake Michigan Field Station NOAA's in Muskegon.
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