Re: Radon therapy[Radiation]/Aflatoxin cancer risk comparison

[RADPROJECT@aol.com]

In an earlier post, I wrote:
<<How this level of excess cancer risk due to
aflatoxin in peanuts, milk, or other foods compares to the risk of any given
level of radon exposure is open to debate.>>

I checked a file on Aflatoxin food recalls by FDA and noted an interesting
case where the Helena Cotton Oil Co. of Arkansas had to recall 2,100,000
pounds of cottonseed meal and 7,226,760 pounds of cottonseed hulls
contaminated with aflatoxin-B. These products had been sent to feed mills and
independent farmers in 14 states from Illinois to Florida.  The aflatoxin
would end up in the meat and milk of cattle and cows fed these products which
would reach consumers. There also would have been an elevated level of
aflatoxin-B in the cottonseed oil from which the cottonseed meal and hulls
were the by-product. Cottonseed oil, being inexpensive, is put in countless
food products from cake mixes, candy, etc. 

The point is that the cancer risk from aflatoxin contamination is not just
limited to peanuts but can include the cottonseed oil in ones cake mix, the
muffin one purchases at the supermarket, or any milk or meat  product.
Aflatoxin is just one of thousands of potential carcinogens in the diet.
Accordingly, this highlights how difficult it is to tease out the effects, if
any,  of very low levels of radiation radiation exposure in a study of any
cohort for excess cancer risk.

Stewart Farber
Public Health Sciences
radproject@usa.net
(401) 727-4947
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