Toxic residues of Senegal's peanut economy

Abstract

Exported peanuts have been a key source of state revenue and rural incomes in Senegal since the early 20th century. Senegal has among the world's highest rates of liver cancer incidence. From the 1960s, aflatoxin - the toxic metabolite of fungal strains to which peanut plants are vulnerable - was suspected to be a cause of this cancer. Aflatoxin has since been classified and, in markets that import Senegalese peanuts, regulated as a carcinogen. This article situates aflatoxin toxicity amid the traces of Senegal's century-old peanut export economy. Examining how peanuts have transformed and inhabit soil, landscapes, buildings, food, bodies and aetiological knowledge, it suggests ways in which aflatoxin as well as uncertainty about its carcinogenicity might be cast as residues of a market-oriented economy.