The Perilous Peanut

The Chicago Tribune reports that there's a sense of urgency for labs, medical clinics and farm fields to "build" a peanut that doesn't put the fear of god into every parent with a kid that has an allergic reaction to nuts and peanuts. According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, food allergies occur in 6 to 8% of children under the age of 4 and in 4% of adults with the risk being greatest for a child born to parents who are both allergic. Among the most common allergy causing foods, peanuts find their way into other food items you might never have thought of. If you had canned chili for lunch the other day, it may have been thickened with ground peanuts. In some cases, minuscule amounts of nuts can find their way into foods that shouldn't contain them; the result of mass-produced foods in a manufacturer's shared kitchen cooking and production vessels. Finding ways to breed a harmless variety of the peanut that eliminates all traces of allergens is challenging to say the least and slow going. Many feel that finding an alternative cure or a preventative measure makes more sense and could be achieved in less time.

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