A study conducted by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) has discovered that foods sold in Nairobi's retail markets contain a poisonous substance called aflatoxin.
The research conducted late last year indicated that up to 95 per cent of milk, maize and sorghum in households and sold within the city was infected with the substance.
Aflatoxin mainly damages the liver, which is the organ responsible for destroying poisons that are found in the body.
The poison is also proven to have adverse effects on the reproductive system. In men, it impairs the testis and epidydymis or the sperm store causing low production of sperm.
In addition, the poison can also causes liver cancer and accellerates the abnormal multiplication and overproduction of cells.
A team of medical practitioners from the Moi University confirmed the report through a two-month long experiment with 12 pigs that were fed on contaminated feeds. The pigs developed the said complications.
"Aflatoxins have been shown to disrupt the reproductive system of both humans and animals in both sexes," the medical researchers observed in the report they presented.
Health Cabinet Secretary Dr Cleopa Mailu has in the past expressed concern over the increasing role of aflatoxin in new cancer cases that are reported in the country.
