Toxicology and seafood toxins: domoic acid

Marine and terrestrial food sources are susceptible to contamination by various industrial chemicals and microbial pathogens. Both types of hazard are amenable to regulatory assessment using a single toxicology data base, along with some knowledge of contaminant levels and consumption figures for food. On the other hand, regulatory problems persist with acutely toxic naturally occurring phycotoxins, which may accumulate unpredictably to toxic levels in seafood. However, a scarce supply of pure toxin often precludes the availability of acceptable toxicology studies describing their biological effects. An exception to this situation is domoic acid, a neurotoxin phycotoxin that produced numerous cases of severe human intoxication which demanded extensive toxicological study. This paper describes a series of ongoing studies initiated in the wake of the outbreak of domoic acid toxicity that occurred in 1987 in Eastern Canada.