Description:
Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) is an important public health threat and causes significant economic losses in New England and along the entire west coast of the US including Alaska. Paralytic shellfish poisoning is caused by consuming shellfish that have bioaccumulated saxitoxins which are produced by certain microalgae. The field detection kits used to monitor PSP detect only some of many forms of saxitoxins known as congeners. These kits currently fail to detect important saxitoxin congeners that are toxic to humans and marine mammals.
