Denton Gary R W, Siegrist H Galt, Jano-Edwards Jeanette P
Water and Environmental Research Institute of the Western Pacific, University of Guam, Mangilao, Guam.
J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2009;72(9):574-6. doi: 10.1080/15287390902733523.
Extremely high levels of manganese (Mn) were encountered in foliar tissue of the monocot tree Pandanus tectorius from southern Guam with values exceeding 10,000 microg/g dry weight in some wetland representatives. Historically, dried Pandanus leaves were used extensively as a source of domestic fiber in the local Chamorro culture. A possible link between the use of this plant and a neurodegenerative disease complex that once plagued the island and is symptomatically similar to the occupational disease "manganism" poses an intriguing question that merits further investigation.
