Lagos, Nigeria – The President of Mycotoxicology Society of Nigeria, Dr. Olusegun Atanda, has called on the UN to set aside a day to be known as ‘Mycotoxins Day’ due to the danger posed by mycotoxins to food safety and public health.
“He said if the same global attention given to HIV/AIDS in terms of massive education, political support and wide spread sensitization are replicated on the toxins, there will be safer food and reduction from deaths associated with the disease. Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by microfungi that are capable of causing disease and death in humans and other animals. He said while HIV/AIDS can kill rapidly, aflatoxins kill gradually over the years…Some of the effects of consuming aflatoxin-contaminated grains include stunted growth in children, liver disease, cancer, infertility and even death….He said there is also the need to build capacity among health practitioners, researchers and farmers, while laboratories for the testing of aflatoxins must also be equipped with state-of-the-art facilities.”
| If you would like to support that the United Nations designate a day to be known as “Mycotoxins Day” please contact the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice. | |
27th United States Ambassador to the United Nations |
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Simply cut, paste and send the following email to Ambassador Rice:
_____________________________________________________________________
Email Address: USUNPublicAffairs@State.Gov
Subject Line: Ambassador Rice, Please encourage UN designation of Mycotoxins Day
Body of Email:
To the United States Ambassador to the United Nations
The Honorable Susan E. Rice
Permanent Mission to the United Nations
Honorable Ambassador Rice,
A request has been made by the President of Mycotoxicology Society of Nigeria, Dr. Olusegun Atanda, for the United Nations to set aside a day to be known as “Mycotoxins Day“. This is due to the danger posed by mycotoxins to food safety and public health. Illness caused by mycotoxins is an increasing problem in the United States and worldwide. Public awareness and physician education is direly needed.
Please encourage the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to grant Dr Atanda’s request to designate a “Mycotoxins Day”. The United Nations taking the lead to raise awareness and education of this increasing health threat will help to save many lives.
(additional brief statements you may wish to make)
Thank you,
(your name)
(your address)
______________________________________________________________________
You will receive a confirmation from Ambassador Rice’s office upon receipt of your email. Please forward this confirmation to us at MDAwareness@aol.com so we may track how many requests that the Ambassador’s office received. Please forward this message to others who may also wish to encourage that the UN designate Mycotoxins Day.
Thank you!
Katy's Exposure 
The entire world and everyone in it needs to wake up and start understanding the horrors of what mold , their toxins , serious water damage can do to the human body and mind. When someone has been affected their life is forever changed . Their body systems have been compromised and their daily living is equally compromised. It is not a joke it is serious and folks who have been affected need the support of the medical community and their fellow man/woman. Also those who neglect to take care of properly , mold issues , need to be placed where they can live mold, eat mold and breathe it and pray they do not react to it ,even so hopefully they would understand how awful it is for someone who has been harmed forever by this issue, which if only care , proper management and an open ear and mind to the plight of those suffering would come about and the medical community take it as a very serious issue , statements like mine would not have to be made. Please folks take the tiem to listen and learn and help , it is not a hard request!
Agreed. I hope people are putting that info in their emails to Ambassador Rice while supporting Dr. Atanda’s request for UN designation of Mycotoxins Day.
I agree every little bit helps but it still needs to be made clear to everyone that exposure isn’t just from eating contaminated food! Doctors especially need to be made aware of this because we will end up with the same issues we have now, that inhalation of ‘toxic molds / mycotoxins can not make you sick.
Dana,
It seems to me that any effort to increase worldwide awareness that mycotoxins harm will help to cause education of physicians. This education will help no matter what the route or location of exposure or which mycotoxin is involved. I think it is a fantastic idea to encourage the UN to designate Mycotoxins Day.
Dear Dr. Atanda,
Thank you for your comment. Yes, aflatoxins are some of the most potent carcinogens known to man, is my understanding. We applaud your efforts to bring the ever increasing problem to the world’s attention via encouraging the UN to designate a world “Mycotoxins Day”.
It is our hope that the U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Rice, will support your efforts and that many representatives from other countries will, too. As an additional example of why this is important, not just to Africa, but the world, is the information of African dust clouds carrying aspergillus and adversely impacting coral reefs in the U.S. and Carribean. http://www.worldwatch.org/node/514
Please keep us abreast of your progress. Let us know if we may do anything to help you.
Warm Regards,
Sharon Kramer
I agree with you that in total but Aflatoxins is the most dangerous of them all.The FAO has estimated that 25% of the World Crops are lost to Aflatoxins. Countries that are located between 40 degrees N and 40 degrees S latitude (Major part of Africa) offer suitable conditions for growth of Aflatoxigenic fungi, exposing their population to the risk of exposure
Aflatoxins are teratogenic, mutagenic
and carcinogenic to several species of experimental animals. They
have been classified as a Group 1 carcinogen in IARC Monographs
on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans.
Chronic exposures to aflatoxins have resulted in reduced immune
activities, malnutrition and growth impairment. Consumption of foods
containing high levels of aflatoxins may produce acute aflatoxicosis
with severe pathologies which in extreme cases may lead to
death( the Kenya incidences)
The issue with this is they are only really focusing consumption of aflatoxins from food and not inhalation of mycotoxins from mold exposure! It needs to be made clear that people can be exposed to mycotoxins by breathing them in and eating them! And it’s not just aflatoxins, it’s also ochratoxins and others..