LEE COUNTY, Fla. -- The Florida Department of Health will begin air quality testing monitoring for red tide.
A statement provided Thursday said the DOH will partner with Mote Marine Laboratory based in Sarasota to start tests on Monday, October 8th. The first three counties to be sampled will be Pinellas, Sarasota and Lee. Red tide effects are commonly felt in the immediate area surrounding beaches. "The transportation of red tide aerosols will be monitored with high volume air samplers and analyzed to assess the amount of brevotoxins to which people and animals are exposed," said FDOH Communications Director Nick Van Der Linden.
The testing comes after countless people in Southwest Florida have expressed health concerns over air quality. Wednesday, at a panel featuring environmental activist Erin Brockovich, several attendees raised concern over air quality surrounding cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae. It is unclear whether air in areas where heavy concentrations of blue-green algae gather will be tested.
Meanwhile, a Southwest Florida family is seeking answers to whether air quality around the water contributed to a medical condition in their new born baby. 4 In Your Corner first met William and Mikayla Zariske in July, when they expressed health concerns over living on their boat which was surrounded by algae. Their newborn baby, Zaria, was born months after with a congenital diaphragmic hernia, a birth defect. "It's basically a hole in the diaphragm where the organs will come up into the chest cavity," said Will.
Zaria is doing much better now, but needed surgery. Will and Mikayla cannot say with certainty the algae caused Zaria's CDH, but their respiratory issues around the water at Rosen Park was always a concern. "Would anything be wrong with her or our health in the long term?"
Dr. Parisima Taeb, who is running for office in Southwest Florida, says the DOH should be testing for more than just red tide. "It's great that they're resting for red tide in the air, they need to be testing for cyanotoxins as well," she said.
Dr. Taeb cannot link Zaria's CDH to the air in the immediate area of cyanobacteria either, but says if the government does not start investing in research, we may never know whether there is a link. "Bottom line is we need to gather more information, more data, and we need to take more obligation to protect our community."
The Zariske family is hoping for more testing as well, for chemicals, cyanotoxins, and nutrients like phosphate and nitrate, all things found in contaminated runoff. "I want to see regulations in place for mining for phosphate, for the releases, regulations for the agriculture around Lake Okeechobee," said Will.
4 In Your Corner has reached out to the FDOH and we are awaiting a response concerning testing for cyanobacteria.
