Breaking the Mold: New Strategies for Fighting Aflatoxins
Breaking the Mold: New Strategies for Fighting Aflatoxins
Several developments account for the increased focus. First, there is mounting evidence that aflatoxins cause or exacerbate impaired growth in children, a condition known as stunting. Characterized by low body weight, short stature, and impaired brain development, stunting can also increase a child's risk of dying from illnesses such as diarrheal diseases, malaria, and measles. Aflatoxin control is now a priority for the World Bank and other aid groups that count reducing child morbidity and mortality among their major goals.
Second, says John Bowman, a senior agricultural advisor with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), development experts worry that aflatoxins undermine efforts to base food aid on local agriculture—a cheaper, more sustainable approach to aid that both avoids flooding developing country markets with imported grain and breaks dependencies on foreign imports. Barbara Stinson, a senior partner with the nonprofit Meridian Institute, recounts how African stakeholders launched the Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa (PACA) in 2011 after it was discovered that grain shipments headed for distribution in Somalia by the United Nations World Food Programme were contaminated with aflatoxins. That year USAID committed $12 million to PACA's efforts, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has endowed a $19.6-million, five-year grant to support the formation and launch of PACA, as well as some pilot studies.
Coordinated by the Meridian Institute, PACA's goal is to make Africa "aflatoxin-safe" using both proven and innovative strategies. According to Stinson, "aflatoxin-safe" means aflatoxin risks should be minimized to the lowest degree possible, with the understanding they can't be eradicated completely.
Finally, the impact of recent weather extremes suggests that climate change could increase aflatoxin issues worldwide. For instance, much of the corn in the U.S. Corn Belt—including portions of Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, and Illinois—was infected with the fungus last year, on the heels of the worst drought in half a century. Hurburgh says aflatoxins routinely contaminate crops in hot states like Texas and Arizona, but it was unusual to see such extensive contamination in the cooler Corn Belt states to the north. "There's a lot of consensus that weather extremes will become more common worldwide," he says. "And if that's the case, then we're going to be dealing with aflatoxin and similar mycotoxin problems more frequently."
Aflatoxins Under the Spotlight
Several developments account for the increased focus. First, there is mounting evidence that aflatoxins cause or exacerbate impaired growth in children, a condition known as stunting. Characterized by low body weight, short stature, and impaired brain development, stunting can also increase a child's risk of dying from illnesses such as diarrheal diseases, malaria, and measles. Aflatoxin control is now a priority for the World Bank and other aid groups that count reducing child morbidity and mortality among their major goals.
Second, says John Bowman, a senior agricultural advisor with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), development experts worry that aflatoxins undermine efforts to base food aid on local agriculture—a cheaper, more sustainable approach to aid that both avoids flooding developing country markets with imported grain and breaks dependencies on foreign imports. Barbara Stinson, a senior partner with the nonprofit Meridian Institute, recounts how African stakeholders launched the Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa (PACA) in 2011 after it was discovered that grain shipments headed for distribution in Somalia by the United Nations World Food Programme were contaminated with aflatoxins. That year USAID committed $12 million to PACA's efforts, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has endowed a $19.6-million, five-year grant to support the formation and launch of PACA, as well as some pilot studies.
Coordinated by the Meridian Institute, PACA's goal is to make Africa "aflatoxin-safe" using both proven and innovative strategies. According to Stinson, "aflatoxin-safe" means aflatoxin risks should be minimized to the lowest degree possible, with the understanding they can't be eradicated completely.
Finally, the impact of recent weather extremes suggests that climate change could increase aflatoxin issues worldwide. For instance, much of the corn in the U.S. Corn Belt—including portions of Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, and Illinois—was infected with the fungus last year, on the heels of the worst drought in half a century. Hurburgh says aflatoxins routinely contaminate crops in hot states like Texas and Arizona, but it was unusual to see such extensive contamination in the cooler Corn Belt states to the north. "There's a lot of consensus that weather extremes will become more common worldwide," he says. "And if that's the case, then we're going to be dealing with aflatoxin and similar mycotoxin problems more frequently."
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