Millennium EditionSUMMARIES OF SYMPOSIA & MEETINGS An International Conference on the TOXICOLOGY OF FUMONISINS was held on June 28-30, 1999 in Arlington VA, USA, sponsored by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the International Life Sciences Institute, North America (ILSI N.A.). The introductory lecture by Dr. Walter F.O. Marasas provided an historical perspective of fumonisins since his research team discovered fumonisins in 1988 up to the present time, covering most of the researches carried out in South Africa and worldwide on the occurrence and animal toxicity of fumonisins. The conference included a poster session and four oral sessions dealing respectively with: 1) Fumonisin chemistry — synthesis, structure and biosynthesis; 2) Comparative toxicology — equine leukoen-cephalomalacia, porcine pulmonary edema, liver and kidney toxicity in rodents; 3) Long term rodent bioassay and mechanisms of carcinogenesis — carcinogenicity on rodents, pathways of fumonisin-induced carcinogenicty, role of sphingolipid biosynthesis in signal transduction and carcinogenesis, apoptosis and its role in carcinogenesis; and, 4) Occurrence and related issues — analytical methods, factors affecting the occurrence of fumonisins in corn, biological control of fumonisin producing fungi, effects of food processing on fumonisin, prospects for reducing fumonisins contamination through genetic modification. Particular attention was given to the freshly released results of the two-year rodent feeding study performed by the National Toxicology Program (NTP). The study indicated that fumonisin B1 is carcinogenic at 50 ppm and higher doses, causing liver tumours in female mice and kidney tumours in male rats. Results of the study are collected in the Technical report on Toxicology and Carcinogenesis studies of fumonisin B1 in F344/N rats and B6C3F1 mice (NTP TR 496, NIH Publication No. 99-3955, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). Contact: Dr. William T. Allaben, NCTR, US Food and Drug Administration, 3900 NCTR Drive, Jefferson, AR 72079-9502, USA. Fax: +1-870-543-7662; E-mail: wallaben@nctr.fda.gov |