Fallacies in Our Understanding of Mycotoxins

Abstract

It is arguable that mycotoxins offer a new challenge to the logical framework on which microbiology is erected. The time honored concepts of cause and effect are not as clear and simple with mycotoxins as we would wish and frequently assume. We have nondescript diseases with multiple nondescript causes. It is a rare field outbreak in which everything equals what is seen in the laboratory. A microbiologist working with mycotoxins is like a microbiologist working with mixed cultures, he not only feels lost but to a certain extent he is lost with the customary road signs vague and obscured or even misleading. Nevertheless, mycotoxicology reflects reality with all its excitement and complexity as do few other areas of science. Mycotoxins are a real and present hazard as they have been for ages. It is up to us to question, acknowledge, and correct the fallacies hindering our goal of relieving mankind of the affliction of mycotoxins.