The term "environmental toxin" can sometimes explicitly include synthetic contaminants such as industrial pollutants and other artificially made toxic substances. As this contradicts most formal definitions of the term "toxin", it is important to confirm what the researcher means when encountering the term outside of microbiological contexts.
Environmental toxins from food chains that may be dangerous to human health include:
* Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP)
* Amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP)
* Diarrheal shellfish poisoning (DSP)
* Neurotoxic shellfish poisoning (NSP)