Effects Of Liver Cancer And The Presence Of Cyanobacteria...

Majority of the studies conducted including ones mentioned above, there was a strong correlation between the chronic symptoms i.e. liver cancer and the presence of cyanobacteria in the drinking water. The presence and study of cyanobacteria dates back to the 1930’s, therefore, this is not a particularly new field of study. This gives the current researchers/ investigators with important retrospective information to use to build on current research. It also appears that most of the cyanobacteria species have been identified and studied upon. Their characteristics such as toxin produced, cell structures etc. have been examined (Table 4). With this said, the study area has been made feasible. 5. Weaknesses of studies Most of the studies†¦show more content†¦In my opinion, this does not create such a strong case for causality. Because the years are so far apart, one might argue that there were other events that took place that may have influenced the PLC rates in these particular region. 6. Current status/Data gap Current drinking water treatment practices in Serbia do not regularly monitor or actively remove these toxins from the drinking water because this is a relatively new field of study and would involve extremely expensive measures (SVIRÄÅ'EV et al., 2009). This is not only a problem in Serbia, but in many developing countries. Priority always seems to be placed on other issues while study areas such as this tend to be ignored. Furthermore, the relevant governing bodies cannot be trusted as they might provide misinformation to the general public regarding the quality of drinking water. Although global organizations such as the World Health Organization has prescribed allowable levels on microcystin in drinking water, several questions proceed in relevance to the individual countries. Questions such as; who is responsible for monitoring and reporting unsafe levels of microcystin in drinking water, what is the frequency of water quality monitoring?, who are the responsible parties that s hould be held accountable in case of an outbreak? Unfortunately, his type of vigilant and stringent monitoring is often times a miss. In the case of the Serbia