article on birth defects caused by moldy corn

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February 09, 2006 HEALTHDAY NEWS

CORN MOLD TOXIN LINKED TO BIRTH DEFECTS

Tortillas made with corn containing a toxic mold may have been

responsible for a rash of serious

birth defects in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas during the early

1990s,

says a reporter in the the

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES.

For more than a decade, scientists have been trying to determine the

cause of the surge of infants born

with damaged or missing brains. No chemical links to the affected

babies

were ever proven.

Researchers now say they have human studies linking a toxin

(fumonisin)

in corn mold with neural tube defects in newborns,

the ASSOCIATED PRESS reported.

There were high concentrations of this toxin in the corn harvest just

before

the outbreak of birth defects

in the Rio Grande Vally, where tortillas are a dietary staple.