Scientists Study Whether There's Any Link Between Lou Gehrig's Disease and Water Quality

Enfield resident Mike Rampeuy walks out of a restaurant near Mascoma Lake. He says recently all residents are talking about is the connection between the lake and Lou Gehrig’s disease.

“I haven’t seen the study but from what people are telling me the study is very reliable, that what they found in the lake definitely would have caused a high incidence of Lou Gehrig’s disease, …...”

But that’s not exactly correct. Researchers from Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, UNH and the Department of Environmental Services are collecting samples of cyanobacteria from the lake. It’s a toxic bacterium that looks like blue-green algae. But they have not discovered any link between it and the fatal neurodegenerative disease ALS.

Rampeuy says some misleading media accounts have led residents to believe otherwise…and it’s scaring some.

“the neighbor I was talking to yesterday he doesn’t want to put his boat in the water, he’s very concerned about the lake.”

(nats..134 8:43 ..”look at how clean that water is..
Paul Raymond, who owns Mascoma Lake Campground, looks out across the water from the his dock.
134 9:08 if the sun was out you’d be able to see straight down here, but the lake is fine.”
The lake did look clear…clear of any pond scum that looks like cyanobacteria… and pretty clear of any boaters or swimmers.
Raymond says he’s spent the last week fielding phone calls from people who have booked their summer vacation at the 33 acre campground.
134 1:29 the buzz right now is “is it safe to go in the water, is it safe to drink the water, will my kids get infected by it.”
He says no one has cancelled so far – and he hopes no one will.
131 :52 (I worry about too much publicity affecting the people who live over there)
Doctor Elijah Stommel is a neurologist at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.
He wasn’t prepared for such an overreaction from people on Mascoma Lake.
He says they chose the lake as a model for their research after mapping hundreds of ALS patients across the state.
They found that the incidence of ALS was significantly higher around lakes known to have significant cyanobacteria blooms.
But the rates were particularly high around Mascoma.
130 2:07 taking into the fact what the population of Enfield is and the area of Enfield and knowing how long these patients have lived there 2:15 we were able to establish that there appeared to be about a 25 fold increase in what one would expect to see for the ALS incidence 2:26
But he’s not sure if cyanobacteria is the culprit.
The incidence of ALS around other lakes known to have significant cyanobacteria blooms was 2 and a half times greater than the national rate.
And that’s important to point out, says James Haney, a professor of biological sciences at UNH who is helping with the research.
14:29 we have some other areas where there are clusters, that we’ve already identified and quite honestly I’d rather not mention these just because of the unease that it creates in the people who may be living there, and it may be totally unnecessary..it’s strictly an unproven hypothesis and it should be treated as that.
Cyanobacteria blooms are not unique to Mascoma Lake – last year DES issued 14 cyanobacteria warnings on lakes across the state.
The bacteria often produce toxins- and a lot of them.
Biologist James Haney.
17:49 we know that microcystins, which is one of the toxins that effects the liver is a worldwide problem, that there’s over seventy different varieties of that one type of liver toxin there are at least a half dozen other known groups of toxins that either effect the liver or the nervous system.
Haney says what researchers are looking for are cyanobacteria that produce a particular type of amino acid called B-M-A-A.
It is thought that BMAA, which acts as a neurotoxin in humans, can trigger ALS.
One scientific study in Guam tested that possibility.
Researchers discovered high concentrations of ALS in native tribes that ate a certain type of bat.
Haney says the bats fed from a type of palm tree that had cyanobacteria.
7:43 and they discovered that it was not only this cyanobacteria lived in the roots of these palm trees that produces BMAA, but they found in the laboratory at least, most of the cyanobacteria species they tested could produce BMAA… now we still don’t know at this time whether BMAA is being produced in New Hampshire’s lakes.
But that’s what researchers are setting out to find.
Dartmouth Hitchcock researchers are collecting hair, brain tissue, and spine tissue samples from ALS patients…and UNH and the state Department of Environmental Services is helping collect water samples.
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Inside the DES’s limnology center, Director Jody Conner reaches into a refrigerator.
Jody 123 :54 this is the cyanobacteria that we’ve collected, this one comes from Harvey Lake in Northwood, see how green that sample is.. so we’re saving these for Dartmouth and they’re going to be analyzed for BMAA.
Connor says even if researchers can’t find BMAA, people and animals should avoid contact with cyanobacteria because of the potential toxins.
Children can get gastrointestinal problems, or a high fever.
1:41 there’s long term effects that are also possible with potential liver damage, and we have problems with pets, pets seem to go in and drink a lot of water or they get the cells on their fur, and they lick their fur.
And they can die.
Part of the problem with cyanobacteria is it can be elusive, hard to recognize, and currents and wind can take it anywhere.
128 :20 we may go on one day and there may be a scum on the water and you may go the next day and they may be gone and they may be low on the water column so they’re tricky, they’re smart and tricky.
Researchers looking for BMAA in cyanobacteria are facing a lot of unknowns.
Does it have to be ingested?
Can you absorb it by breathing aerosolized water?
How long do you need to be exposed to it before it causes serious damage?
And at what concentration?
Again, Doctor Elijah Stommel with Dartmouth-Hitchcock.
“If there is a link between cyanobacteria blooms and the toxins they make and a neurodegenerative disease like ALS then I think we should pursue that with as much vigor as we can..and I think the neurology literature would suggest that there is an environmental trigger for ALS.”
But Stommel adds, that scientists have not yet found that link.
But if they do, Stommel says that link might help find ways to prevent the dangerous toxins, or block their effects.
For NHPR news, I’m Amy Quinton.