Mycotoxin risk assessment for the purpose of setting international regulatory

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1: Environ Sci Technol. 2004 Aug 1;38(15):4049-55.

Mycotoxin risk assessment for the purpose of setting international

regulatory standards.

Wu F.

Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Graduate School

of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, A718 Crabtree Hall, 130

DeSoto Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, USA. fwu@...

The 2003 Council for Agricultural Science and Technology Mycotoxin

report states that one 21st century goal is the development of

uniform regulations worldwide for foodborne mycotoxin contamination.

This study informs that endeavor by a risk assessment and economic

analysis of two important mycotoxins: fumonisins and aflatoxins. The

goals are to identify the nations that would be most heavily

impacted by tighter mycotoxin regulations, examine costs and

benefits as a function of regulatory stringency, and address risk-

risk tradeoffs between health benefits and economic losses from

compliance with those regulations. Among industrial nations, the

United States would experience the heaviest economic losses from

more precautionary mycotoxin standards. Environmental conditions in

the developing world, however, are more conducive to mycotoxin

accumulation in crops. Contrary to concerns expressed among

policymakers, the less developed countries that would likely

experience the greatest loss from tighter mycotoxin standards are

not sub-Saharan African nations, but China and Argentina. If a

fumonisin standard of 0.5 mg/kg were adopted worldwide, total export

losses from fumonisins in corn may exceed 300 million dollars

annually: 3-fold higher than if the less stringent U.S. standard of

2 mg/kg were adopted. Likewise, export losses from aflatoxins in

peanuts may exceed 450 million dollars under the current EU

regulatory standard of 4 microg/kg: almost 5-fold higher than if the

U.S. standard of 20 microg/kg were adopted. Stricter standards are

unlikely to improve health significantly. In developing nations such

as China where hepatitis B and C are prevalent, tighter aflatoxin

standards may increase health risks until improved control methods

for aflatoxins are found, as high-quality crops may be exported

instead of being consumed domestically.