Mortality of sea lions along the central California coast linked to a toxic diatom bloom.

Over 400 California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) died and many others displayed signs of neurological dysfunction along the central California coast during May and June 1998. A bloom of Pseudo-nitzschia australis (diatom) was observed in the Monterey Bay region during the same period. This bloom was associated with production of domoic acid (DA), a neurotoxin that was also detected in planktivorous fish, including the northern anchovy (Engraulis mordax), and in sea lion body fluids.

Clustered Outbreak of Adverse Reactions to a Salsa Containing High Levels of Sulfites.

Six patients came to our attention in the Sacramento, CA area who developed cough or asthma after the ingestion of one brand (Brand 1) of refrigerated Mexican-style salsa, labelled "fresh". These patients had consumed other brands previously, not necessarily sulfited, but noted cough or asthma only in relation to consumption of this brand. Patients 1 and 2 developed reproducible severe cough and throat tightness after ingestion.

Effects of sulfur dioxide or ammonium sulfate exposure, alone or combined, for 4 or 8 months on normal and elastase-impaired rats.

Normal and lung-impaired rats were compared after exposure to SO2 and/or (NH4)2SO4 for 4 or 8 months, or for 8 months plus 3 months recovery. Young adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were pretreated intratracheally with either physiologic saline (normal lungs) or porcine pancreatic elastase (impaired lungs). Rats from each pretreatment group were exposed to filtered air (control), to SO2 (1 ppm) or (NH4)2SO4 (0.