NEW Evidence

Since 1997 scientists have long suspected outbreaks of the microorganism were attributed to tainted runoff from poultry manure

Locals have long suspected that health issues were not being addressed when it came to the runoff of chicken manure into the back bays of Ocean City, Maryland and Delaware's coastal waters. Politics and greed have long ruled the decisions for development but hopefully the health of the native citizens will now take precedence.

TESTING TO BEGIN in April on rivers of lower Eastern Shore and coastal back bays west of Ocean City, Maryland

For the naive local or the transient tourist: Chicken manure is recycled on to farm lands as fertilizer. The chicken manure is stored in open air facilities and dumped directly onto farm land as nutrient for corn, soybean, red peppers, tomatoes, strawberries, and other locally grown vegetables. In addition to chicken manure, hog and pig waste is also used as nutrient. Chicken manure has a distinct and barely tolerable smell, while hog and pig waste is extremely biting to the nose and senses.

All the research has suggested the link is real:

"What's happened over the last few years is there's more and more evidence that's consistent with [the link] that, rather than evidence that tends to undermine it," Ecologist Donald Boesch, president of the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Science at a multistate committee conference of science advisers that convened

JoAnn Burkholder, co-discoverer of Pfiesteria has documented explosive growth of the organism's toxic development stage when exposed to human sewages and pig farm wastes. Multiplying more than 500 fold over a five day period when exposed to the nutrients found in the waste products.

Toxic levels of Pfiesteria and Chattonella have previously been associated with fish kills (menhaden) or lessions on the fish showing they were being attacked by the micro organisms. One problem results in that testing for these micro organisms does not indicate the levels of toxicity that results to harm and injury to fish and mammals

Excessive nutrient levels in streams, rivers and coastal bays have lead to the growth of algae blooms, red tides, and thus toxic levels of micro organisms known as dinoflagellates,

i.e.: Pfiesteria piscicida and Chattonella strains feed off the explosive growth in algae resulting from the high levels of nutrients caused by the runoff off of waste manures.

In the state of Maryland researchers from the Department of Natural Resources have found a strong correlation between high levels of chlorophyll (the green pigment produced by algae) and the presence of Pfiesteria in rivers and streams.

Concerning Pfiesteria

outbreaks and animal

and human waste runoff into

streams, rivers and coastal bays