Mycotoxins, major cause of diseases in Nigeria – Minister

By Bisola Adeyemo

The Federal government has said that no fewer than 25 per cent of diseases causing severe and extensive damage to Nigeria’s health are caused by mycotoxins.

The Minister of State for Environment, Sharon Ikeazor, revealed this on Wednesday in Abuja during a two-day workshop organised by the Environmental Health Officers Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON).

Ikeazor noted that there were increased adverse health effects of mycotoxins on occupants of residential, office buildings, schools, agricultural and non-agricultural settings including food and food products in Nigeria.

The minister, who spoke through her Special Adviser Dr Priscilla Achakpa, charged environmental health experts to take sensitisation campaign to local communities on the danger of consuming food products contaminated with mycotoxins.

Speaking on prevention and control of mycotoxins in the food and the environment, Ikeazor noted that the campaigns should be targeted at the farmers at the grassroots so they could be educated and informed on the occurrence and effects of mycotoxins in food and the environment.

“We must all be worried about the risk of environmental exposures experienced by those that consume or are exposed to food and food products that are contaminated with mycotoxins.

“The ingestion of mycotoxin through food and inhalation of mycotoxins and other contaminants in the air might result in lung damage, allergic reactions such as irritation in the respiratory tract, eyes, and skin, and sometimes headaches.

“Exposure to all these contaminants could have harmful effects on vital organs and consequently on the overall human health and productivity,’’ she said.

The minister, therefore, urged the environmental health officers to educate people on the negative effects of moulds and mycotoxins contamination in their environment.

She further charged participants of the workshop to exchange ideas and come up with skills to monitor and detect safety risks associated with exposure to mycotoxin contamination and measure to containing it.

Dr Yakubu Baba, Registrar, EHORECON, stated that mycotoxin was a public health responsibility accounting for about 25 per cent of diseases in the country.

Baba said the council was preparing its practitioners to be sufficiently knowledgeable to be able to effectively enlighten the public on the negative effects of mycotoxins in food and the environment.

Mycotoxins are toxic compounds that are naturally produced by certain types of moulds (fungi). They can grow on foodstuffs such as cereals, nuts spices and more.