(smrjee@gmail.com)
The media is full of information about the dangers of aflatoxins, increasing fear in the minds of public. Exposure to extremely small doses of aflatoxins of the order of micrograms per kilogram for long periods leads to liver cancer in humans and animals. Aflatoxins can also cause deaths within a few days if people are exposed to extremely high doses of it. In the world, there has been only one such recorded incident due to toxicity; 105 people died after consuming aflatoxin contaminated maize, during a famine in a neighbouring country. The toxic dose was around 20 mg per kilogram. That was in 1975.