On Tuesday 14th October, the Health Supplement section of the Irish Times ran a story concerning Blue Green Algae sourced from the Upper Klamath Lake in the US which could have harmful effects due to the presence of a liver toxin, Microcystin.
We immediately contacted our supplier for their response to the statements made in the article which is summarised below. We are confident that the response will help eliminate any doubt one might have by reading such an article and are also confident in the products that we provide.
Blue Green Planet:
“Eight years ago there was an excessively long summer period around the Upper Klamath lake where the algae is harvested. This lead to an increase in Microcystin levels due to the rise in temperature and lack of winds to distribute both algae and the microcystin. Microcystin has a parasitic relationship with Blue green algae as it is high in nutritional properties. Micocystin is also present in all fresh water and not just those containing blue green algae. It is not present in spirulina as that comes from salt water sources. Regulations were brought in to control the levels and a tolerance was set for products made from the Algae. This level was set above the tolerance for Microcystin to fresh water ratio (1 millionth of a gram).
Blue Green Planet use the tolerance level of Microcystin to Water rather than Microcystin to Algae. Consumption of the product is as safe as consuming water from any fresh water source.”