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Fumonisin and some other mycotoxins are highly toxic, causing fatal diseases in livestock that eat infected corn and esophageal cancer in humans.
FORBES: Bittman of the 'New York Times': Always Out To Lunch
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In 2003, the UK Food Safety Agency tested six organic corn meal products and 20 conventional (non-organic) corn meal products for fumonisin contamination.
FORBES: Bittman of the 'New York Times': Always Out To Lunch
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As the Bt-corn fends off insect pests, it also reduces the levels of the mold Fusarium, thereby reducing the levels of the fungal toxin fumonisin.
FORBES: Bittman of the 'New York Times': Always Out To Lunch
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Fumonisin also interferes with the cellular uptake of folic acid, a vitamin that is known to reduce the risk of neural tube defects in developing fetuses.
FORBES: Bittman of the 'New York Times': Always Out To Lunch
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Regulatory agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and UK Food Safety Agency have established recommended maximum fumonisin levels in food and feed products made from corn.
FORBES: Bittman of the 'New York Times': Always Out To Lunch
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Thus, switching to the genetically engineered, insect-resistant corn for food processing would lower the levels of fumonisin as well as the concentration of insect parts likely to be found in the final product.
FORBES: Bittman of the 'New York Times': Always Out To Lunch
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Indeed, researchers at Iowa State University and the US Department of Agriculture found that in Bt-corn the level of fumonisin is reduced by as much as 80% compared to conventional corn.
FORBES: Bittman of the 'New York Times': Always Out To Lunch
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Over the centuries, the main culprits in mass food poisoning have often been mycotoxins, such as ergotamine from ergot or fumonisin from Fusarium species, resulting from the fungal contamination of unprocessed crops.
FORBES: Bittman of the 'New York Times': Always Out To Lunch
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Because fumonisin prevents the folic acid from being absorbed by cells, the toxin can, in effect, induce functional folic acid deficiency and thereby cause neural tube defects such as spina bifida even when the diet contains what otherwise would be sufficient amounts of folic acid.
FORBES: Bittman of the 'New York Times': Always Out To Lunch