Relating harmful phytoplankton to shellfish toxicity and human health

浮游植物是海洋食物链的基础。大多数浮游植物是良性的，确实对环境的健康有益。然而，少数植物由于产生有毒物质而对人类、环境或经济有害。这些浮游植物通常被称为有害藻华或HABs。有毒的浮游植物可能被滤食性贝类摄入，这些贝类本身并没有受到伤害，而是在其组织中积累和集中毒素。如果这些贝类被人类食用，可能会发生严重的疾病。浮游植物和贝类肉的监测项目是将食用贝类给人类带来的健康风险降至最低的一种手段。然而，由于一些尚未完全了解的因素，人们认为有害的浮游植物及其毒素在英国水域正在增加。因此，有必要更好地了解影响毒素产生的因素，贝类的媒介和贝类毒性对公共卫生的影响。在英国，这一领域的研究相对不发达，分散，环境和生物医学科学家之间很少或根本没有合作。在这项建议中，我们打算举办一个研究研讨会，将科学家、监管机构、监测机构和具有有害浮游植物及其影响方面专业知识的行业代表联合起来。该讲习班将使跨学科的知识和思想交流成为可能，并为今后的环境/生物医学合作项目制定假设。制作报告将使我们能够更广泛地传播在项目中获得的知识。

Phytoplankton form the base of the marine food chain. Most phytoplankton are benign and indeed positively benefitial to the health of the environment. However, a minority of phytoplantkon are harmful to humans, the environment or the economy as a result of their prouction of toxic substances. These phytoplankton are often called harmful algal blooms or HABs. Toxic phytoplankton may be ingested by filter feeding shellfish that are not themselves harmed but which accumulate and concentrate the toxin in their tissue. If the shellfish are them eaten by humans potentially serious illness may occur. Monitoring programs of phytoplankton and shellfish flesh act as a means of minimising the heath risk to humans of shellfish consumption. Hwever, through factors that are not fully understood harmful phytoplankton and their toxins are perceived to be on the increase in UK waters. Hence, it is necessary to better understand to factors that influence toxin production its vectoring by shellfish and the public health implications of shellfish toxicity. Research in this field in the UK is relatively underdeveloped and fragmented with little or no colllaboration between environmental and biomedical scientists. In this proposal we intend to hold a research workshop to integrate scientists, regulators, monitoring agencies and industry representatives with expertise in hamful phytoplankton and their effects. The worshop will allow the interdisciplinary sharing of knowledge and ideas and allow the hypothesis to be formulated for future environmental/biomedical colloborative projects. The production of a report will allow us to disseminate more widely the knowledge gained during the project.