Red Tide Taking Toll on Floridians' Health, but Scott Refuses to Take Action

A new report from NBC News found that despite evidence showing red tide exposure can “constrict passages in the lungs, causing people to cough and have difficulty breathing,” experts are concerned about “the lack of research on long-term exposure.”

This report comes on the heals of past reporting where experts fault Scott for his administration’s lack of attention to the environmental crisis.

In a recent Washington Post article, a GOP lawyer and former state water official faults Scott for the current environmental crisis: “Rick Scott in my opinion has frustrated efforts to solve this problem from the beginning of his term and only got some religion on it late in the game because it finally dawned on him that this was a political issue,” said Eric Buermann, a former general counsel for the state Republican Party and former board chair of the South Florida Water Management District.”

Earlier this week, WINK News reported that Rick Scott’s administration has not done any air quality tests, despite medical professionals raising alarm about health concerns.

Last week, the Fort Myers News-Press released a report which said, in part, “Florida’s Department of Health has remained quiet as the blue-green algae/red tide crisis has escalated into an unprecedented toxic calamity. Over the last month, the department hasn’t made mention of either algae or red tide on its widely followed Twitter and Facebook accounts.”

This all comes on the heels of a Fort Myers News-press editorial, which shined a light on how Rick Scott’s Department of Health is “failing residents and tourists on many fronts when it comes to massive blue-green algal blooms and the spread of red tide.”