the truth abaout blue green algae

[Guest guest]

Good

grief people, give it a rest!! The

toxic algae you are talking about is NOT NOT NOT the algae that is used

for supplements. It isn’t. No. Not. It’s just not. Really! Sorry to disappoint you all, but you’re

not going to put the company out of business. They do not encapsulate toxic algae. There are 20,000 to 30,000 varieties of

algae. Some are toxic, some are

not, some are nutritious. Just like there are a lot of

varieties of mushrooms – some are toxic, some are not, some

are nutritious. Do any of you eat

mushrooms? Yes? Aren’t you afraid you’ll die

because they might have canned the wrong variety? Of course not, you don’t

even think about it, right? Just

because there was ecoli in hamburger at a

Jack-In-The-Box restaurant, are you going to stop eating hamburg?

See how silly this all sounds?

There

have NEVER been any toxins found

in Aphanizomenon flos-aquae, the

algae our company harvests from Upper Klamath Lake.

A morphological analysis and gene sequencing was done on six strains of Aphanizomenon, and on a toxic strain, NH-5, which does not

occur in Upper Klamath Lake (Rapala et al., 1993; Skulberg et

al., 1984; Gentile and Mahoney, 1969; Sawyer et al., 1968). The results of

these analyses show a marked genetic

difference between the toxic species and the Upper

Klamath Lake species (Li et al., 2000).

In

addition, more recently algae scientists Li and Carmichael examined three

strains of Aphanizomenon

from around the world (New Hampshire, Finland, and Portugal) that have been reported

to produce toxins (Li, 2000; Li, 2003). As determined by genetic and

morphologic testing, it was found that all three algae strains were improperly

identified as Aphanizomenon flos-aquae. All

three are species in the genus Aphanizomenon but are not Aphanizomenon flos-aquae.

The

organism harvested by our company is a filamentous, colony forming cyanobacterium. Colony forming morphology is one of the

characteristics of non-toxic strains of Aphanizomenon, and conversely,

toxin producing strains of Aphanizomenon

are not known to form colonies. Li and Carmichael noted colony formation, or

lack thereof, and other morphologic distinctions when comparing Upper Klamath Lake Aphanizomenon flos-aquae with

toxin producing strains of Aphanizomenon.

Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, genetic comparison of Klamath Lake Aphanizomenon flos-aquae to

other species in the genus Aphanizomenon

clearly indicates the dissimilarity

between Klamath Lake Aphanizomenon flos-aquae and

toxin-producing Aphanizomenon

species.

Based

on morphologic and genetic testing, Li and Carmichael placed toxin-producing

strains of Aphanizomenon

in a distinct taxonomic

group separate from Upper Klamath Lake's

Aphanizomenon flos-aquae, and

other non-toxin producing strains of Aphanizomenon.

The

Food Safety Division of the Oregon Department of Agriculture (which is

responsible for licensing the production and ensuring the safety of food

products produced in Oregon) has never given the company as much as a letter or

note of concern that it might be out of compliance with the state's stringent

regulations. We are proud of this record.

So

those of you who are REALLY interested in the truth, I have tons more material I

can send you. If you are just

scouring the internet to find damaging articles, don’t bother –

because I’ve read them all already.

The company has read them all already. The company has answered them all

already (and sued several and won). If you will note, several of the articles

that have been posted here have been quite old. It’s just a moot point. You just cannot dig up any dirt. Sorry.

Carol

 

 

[Guest guest]

> There have NEVER been any toxins found in Aphanizomenon flos-aquae,

> the algae our company harvests from Upper Klamath Lake.

 

Carol, I agree that's the company line. The information has nothing

to do with the algae industry, specifically it's a comment on water

quality that the growth of a toxic blue green alga, Microcystis

aeruginosa, is a regular occurrence in upper Klamath Lake.

 

M. aeruginosa produces compounds called microcystins, which are

potent hepatotoxins and probable tumor promoters. Because M.

aeruginosa coexists with A. flos-aquae, it can be collected

inadvertently during the harvesting process, resulting in microcystin

contamination of BGA products.

 

In fact, in 1996 microcystins were detected in 85 of 87 samples

tested, with 63 samples (72%) containing mor than legal

concentrations > 1 µg/g.

 

Some might treat the information with alarm, some with incredulity,

but there it is.

 

Duncan Crow

[Guest guest]

Duncan

Crow <duncancrow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

M. aeruginosa

produces compounds called microcystins,

 

----------OK, I guess some

of you did not read what I said - There have NEVER been any toxins found in Aphanizomenon flos-aquae from the

company I deal with!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

In fact, in 1996 microcystins

were detected in 85 of 87 samples

tested, with 63 samples (72%) containing mor than legal

concentrations > 1 µg/g.

 

--------So what company

were these samples from?  You don’t

know, do you.

 

Carol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

--- so you are saying that your algae does not come from Klamath

Lake? the lake all the samples were taken from...

so I guess the stuff you sell is grown in a laboratory? where does

it come from?

why dont you just show us the tests that ya'll claim proves no

toxins ever

or have you never been given access to the " alledged testing " ?

 

 

In , " Carol Minnick "

<carolminnick@a...> wrote:

>

> Duncan Crow <duncancrow@>

>

>

>

> M. aeruginosa produces compounds called microcystins,

>

> ----------OK, I guess some of you did not read what I said - There

have

> NEVER been any toxins found in Aphanizomenon flos-aquae from the

company I

> deal with!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

>

> In fact, in 1996 microcystins were detected in 85 of 87 samples

> tested, with 63 samples (72%) containing mor than legal

> concentrations > 1 µg/g.

>

> --------So what company were these samples from? You don't know,

do you.

>

> Carol

[Guest guest]

Mr. Mad Cow – I thought you told me to stop posting

about this – but here you are asking me more questions!!!!!!! I don’t get it.

 

Carol

 

[Guest guest]

---I " ll take that as your consent that your product does come from

Klamath Lake

 

 

In , " Carol Minnick "

<carolminnick@a...> wrote:

> Mr. Mad Cow - I thought you told me to stop posting about this - but

here

> you are asking me more questions!!!!!!! I don't get it.

>

> Carol

[Guest guest]

  " madcowcoverup "

<k_t723

---

so you are saying that your algae does not come from

Klamath

Lake? the

lake all the samples were taken from...

so I

guess the stuff you sell is grown in a laboratory? where

does

it

come from?

-----------

Hmmmm, another question.

 Do you want me post my answer?  Or like you asked me before, do you want me

to stop posting on this subject?  At any

rate, thanks for all this exposure.

 

Ok, I’ll answer.  Yes, of course it comes from Klamath Lake. 

The samples you are talking about were not taken from the lake, they

were taken from bottles already processed and sitting on store shelves.  The samples were not taken from our

bottles.  So maybe – just maybe

– depending on the company – maybe some companies know how not use

the other stuff.  Wow, what a concept.

 

Before you posted all that erroneous

information, did you by any chance contact the two leading experts on algae:

Dr. Don Anderson of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute or Dr. Wayne Carmichael

of Wright State University, both of whom have published numerous papers on the

unique properties of Aphanizomenon flos-aquae in

Upper Klamath Lake - and who can speak with eminent authority on the issue of

the safety of the product and our purification processes which ensure

safety??  No?  I didn’t think you did.  Dr. Anderson and Dr. Carmichael authored an

article that was published in the Journal of

Applied Phycology, which details the

harvesting process. This article was published in December 2000 by Kluwer Academic Publishers. In addition, Dr. Carmichael

co-authored another article entitled " Taxonomic re-evaluation of Aphanizomenon flos-aquae NH-5

based on morphology and 16S rRNA gene

sequences, " published in Hydrobiologia by Kluwer Academic Publishers. This paper shows that the

earlier toxin producing strains called AFA are not the species that grows in Upper Klamath Lake which we harvest.

 

 

 

 

 

Aphanizomenon flos-aquae in Upper Klamath Lake has never been shown to produce a toxin. Each batch (lot)

of our algae is rigorously subjected to advanced processing technologies as

well as a battery of scientific tests to ensure that the algae consistently

meets the highest standards of quality, safety, and purity. In addition to

the in-house testing that is performed, they retain five external,

independent laboratories that regularly test each batch of algae using a

variety of assays and following a strict schedule to detect the presence of

any possible toxins. Such testing procedures are performed on every batch by

external laboratories to ensure an unbiased and independent evaluation. As a

result of all these tests, our algae is one of the

purest and safest foods available.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a

list of articles, books and clinical studies

about wild-crafted blue green algae’s positive impact on the brain.

 

Algae to the Rescue! (1996). Karl

J. Abrams. pp. 89-96.

" Algae in baby's formula? Yes put there on

purpose. " The Seattle Times, Feb. 23, 1997.

" Algae extract adds a nutrient key to higher IQ. "

" Favorable effects of blue-green algae Aphanizomenon flosaquae on

rate plasma lipids. " (2000). Kushak

R, et al. Journal of the American Nutraceutical

Association. 2(3):59-65.

Living Foods for Optimum Health. (1998).

Brian Clement. pp. 155-157.

" Microalgae: First and

finest superfood. " (April,

1995).

Body Mind Spirit. 14(3):12-18.

Super-Learning 2000. (2000).

Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder. " Smart Food and Super Nutrition " ,

P. 197.

The Children and Algae Report.

(1995). Jarratt C., Jewett M., Peters S, and Tragash E. The Center for Family Wellness, Harvard, Mass.

The Indigo Children: The New Kids Have Arrived. (1999).

Carroll L. and Tober J. Hay House Inc. P. 188.

" Ten Foods That Pack a Wallop " . Time,

Jan. 21, 2002.

The Nicaragua

Report. (1995). Study on the effects of Super Blue

Green¨ Algae on the nutritional status and school performance of first,

second and third grade children attending the Monsenor

Velez School in Nandaime, Nicaragua. " Sevilla and Aguiree's study

of 1,567 students demonstrated an 81% increase in the average standardized

test scores among malnourished children eating only .5 to 1 gram of Super

Blue Green¨ Algae a day over a six month period. Subjects showed

significantly increased classroom attendance and participation, as well as

marked improvement in overall health. Academically, the Valez school went from having

one of the lowest national scholastic test scores to achieving one of the

best. "

" Top Ten Most Important Supplements of the New

Millennium " . Vitamin Retailer. Jan. 2002.

" Blue-green algae supplements are poised to take off because they are

a rich source of so many nutrients, including all the essential amino

acids. Vitamin B- 12, Vitamin B-2, beta-carotene and calcium " .