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Researcher develops allergy-free peanuts

news.com.com — People with life-threatening allergies to peanuts might be able to rest easy at their friendly neighborhood Thai restaurants soon, if research announced this week proves true.

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  • Turtlefly, on 10/10/2007, -21/+12And what if I, an allergy-free person, do not WISH to eat "treated" peanuts? What about MY rights? And what is this mysterious "technique" is for inactivating the peanut allergen? Why can't scientists devote their time to developing a medicine specifically for people who have allergies instead of holding ALL of us hostage with this "allergy-free freak peanut"?
    • darkzealot89, on 10/10/2007, -6/+5How about you give the experiment a chance, instead of instantly bashing it. The method is not perfected, so releasing the method would be foolish as it is their research. If it wasn't safe it wouldn't be on the market.
      • mstoneburner, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Um yeah because unsafe products are NEVER released on the market....

        :rolleyes:
    • Asno667, on 10/10/2007, -10/+4How 'bout YOU stop being SELF-CENTERED and realize that its probably alot easier to change a peanut than thousands of people. Its not like they would change every god forsaken peanut on the face of the earth. And would the taste of the allergen free peanut be any different, I doubt it. So pull your head out of your ass and STFU.
    • Winters, on 10/10/2007, -5/+11Wow this is going to be kind of strange, but I have a peanut alergy and I actually AGREE with you. Other people should not be eating modified foods just because some of us have an alergy. That's just stupid.
      • masterstanf2k, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3who said alll peantus will be like this.. they'll just be marked and sold in separate packages... calm down ppl
  • twrife, on 10/10/2007, -15/+25Why change the peanut? Change the people.
    • mannaran, on 10/10/2007, -8/+3Will YOU blend?
    • texpundit, on 10/10/2007, -3/+5I just want to know who's going to test this...?

      "Hi! I know you're fatally allergic to peanuts, but I'd like you to try this treated peanut. It won't kill you...I think. Trust me!"
    • wbeavis, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2Natural Selection. Isn't it supposed to help improve the species. If us humans keep given Mother Nature the bird, she'll eventually get pissed at us.
      • Skalizar, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Natural Selection has already failed in humans (or perhaps is working just fine depending on how you value people). We became smart enough to bypass it and breed at our whim instead of based on creating the best possible offspring. Now it just remains to be seen if we are smart enough it fix it ourselves or if we go the way of the dodo.
        • Raian, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Eventually some interesting little parasite will jump to a human host and kill us all. Either that or all humans will have HIV/AIDS in 100 years.
  • ScornForSega, on 10/10/2007, -5/+31Calm down... I'm sure in 10 years they'll find that it causes cancer.
    • kingpin2k, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Cool...then can we sue big nuts for hiding the research? Politicians, here's your chance to take on Big Nuts.
  • refreshers, on 10/10/2007, -5/+18I've been alergic all my life to peanuts, everyone says they taste good and I have never had any. ;(
    • rabidg00se, on 10/10/2007, -5/+10then how do you know you're allergic? try some, be an hero.
      • wolfmann, on 10/10/2007, -3/+2Kinda weird... I used to eat peanut butter on a regular basis, then I got allergy tested (really bad allergies to trees, pollen, dust, mites, cats). Guess what? my peanut allergy was ~ a +5 or bigger, this was 7 years ago, but I laughed and said, I eat peanut butter everyday; I think I'd be dead by now if I was.

        Basically food allergies have a very high false positive rating when being tested for them.
        • wbeavis, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Food Allergies are kind of hard to test with tradition methods. I have a ton of allergies, I've even had a reaction to the control in the tests.
        • Dax420, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0Wow your allergic to water?
    • zephc, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3Meh, they're ok - there are better nuts.
      • n8r0n, on 10/10/2007, -2/+11Yeah, like DEEEES NUTSSSS!!!!
      • antifreze, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Peanuts are not nuts. Nuts grow above ground, peanuts grow underground.

        A peanut is a legume, that is related to peas and beans.
    • texpundit, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Almonds and pistachios blow peanuts out of the water.
      • Feanor, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5A Pistachio Butter and Jelly Sandwich just doesn't sound as good
    • mike17032, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I gotta disagree. Peanuts are the bom digity.
    • VeganG, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Cashews are better. But peanut butter is better than peanuts.
    • bodhicitta, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0if you are truly very allergic then they most likely will not taste good to you...its a defense mechanism for your body.
      • spidoman, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Actually no, if you're allergic to peanuts they don't taste bad. But as soon as you vomit, or almost die after, your body learns to associate the taste with bad things.

        As someone who is extremely allergic to peanuts, I think this is cool, and entirely worthless to me. I'm basically hard wired now (see above) to hate the taste of peanuts.
  • didoubleg, on 10/10/2007, -5/+1Hmmm.....tastes like chicken!
  • brandonvan, on 10/10/2007, -4/+15Quiet down now I mean it!!! Anybody want a peanut?

    \obscure?
    • AndrewJC, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8It's "no more rhymes, now, I mean it." :)
    • Ub3rg33k, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5It would be less obscure if you got the quote right. Its "No more rhymes now, I mean it. Anybody want a peanut?"
  • pak314, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10The solution is to replace the peanuts with fake ones made of high fructose corn syrup.
  • evileddy60, on 10/10/2007, -22/+29***** people allergic to peanuts.

    I personally throw 100 snickers bars into school yards on my way to work each friday morning and enjoy reading the Obituaries saturday afternoon while I sit in my big house with my normal able-to-eat-peanut-related-children.

    DARWIN 4 TEH WIN
    • ccrook, on 10/10/2007, -6/+5Just another part of the pussification of America.
  • Melf26, on 10/10/2007, -5/+2As much as I'd like to not be wicked allergic, there's like no chance these will replace real peanuts.
  • dajuggernaut, on 10/10/2007, -10/+6great!! now i can have my dog lick peanut butter off my jibblets without having to worry about my allergies killing me
    • MeMongo, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1You wouldn't have to worry about that if you would just break down and get a Real Doll
  • zyl0x, on 10/10/2007, -9/+11Finally the rest of us will no longer have to be oppressed by people with ridiculously retarded immune systems! The peanut will rise again! All hail peanuts!
  • modad, on 10/10/2007, -0/+22Hooray! Now peanuts won't have allergies anymore.
  • Zedian, on 10/10/2007, -8/+0Jibblets....sick little person.

    mmm...peanuts!
  • TheCosmicFool, on 10/10/2007, -6/+7This is great news, I am allergy free but my brother is deathly allergic to peanuts. I always had to be extremely careful as a child because I loved peanut products. I think me having to be reserved on eating peanuts was an extremely small price to pay for still having my brother alive.
    To all the people whining about this: stop being so self-centered. If someone was immune to cyanide would you want them eating it beside you? stfu.
    • finista, on 10/10/2007, -2/+9mmm....cyanide...
    • spwpi10, on 10/10/2007, -4/+0I'm sorry what?
    • yndy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3My brother is as well... and my 4 y.o. daughter.
      Anyone stupid enough to comment negatively about it has never watched someone they love almost die because some moron contaminated their food with peanuts.

      Hopefully, karma will catch up with them soon.
  • mapez, on 10/10/2007, -4/+8Ahaha, I am allergic to peanuts.. and last night my friend was eating nuts and went in for a scoop of my McFlurry.. sadly.. I could no longer eat my McFlurry in fear of my life so I pulled out alot of leg hair and shoved it in the McFlurry and went back and got a new one.

    It would be nice if I didn't have to worry about foolish things like that.
    • modad, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1Should have used pubes.
    • Winters, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1I also have a peanut alergy and I have a question for you.

      Would you actually try these new peanuts? Knowing what normal ones can do to you?

      As for me, I certainly wouldn't try them. They don't even know how this alergy works very well.
  • moneyballs2, on 10/10/2007, -7/+19The views of diggers really amaze me. People can't help being born with an allergy. It's like saying that all people that get hayfeaver or are allergic to dust are ok to suffer. I myself don't suffer from peanut allergy but I do get hayfeaver. I know people that have allergy to peanuts and it's very difficult to them. Especially when everybody is ignorant to it.
    (No doubt I will be dugg down for this)
    • texpundit, on 10/10/2007, -7/+2Survival of the fittest, monkey.

      Hell, just think how much less our healthcare system would cost if we weren't trying to save every person for every little thing. It's made humanity weak...both physically and mentally/emotionally.

      (FTR: I'm not a racist or anything. I just think we've gone too damned far trying to "save" everyone.)
    • mike17032, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3The middle schoolers are clearly out in force today on digg, just look at the (even higher than normal) amount of rawstory stuff on the homepage, along with innacurate dupes about some idiot arrested for selling things on private property without a permit.
  • akatherder, on 10/10/2007, -1/+9The few people I know, who are allergic to peanuts, can't stand them. If you got a headache and extreme nausea around peanuts (or any food) wouldn't you be conditioned to hate the smell and taste of them?
    • yndy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3it's not about taste - it's about not having to say, avoid plain M&Ms because there's ground up peanuts in the shell... or worry that the sugar cookie you are eating is using peanut flour (common now)... or worrying about trying a dish in some restaurant only to find out it had traces of peanuts in it... or worrying that your child will die because s/he took a bite of a friend's contaminated candy bar

      I doubt anyone with a peanut allergy will suddenly think "yay! now I can finally eat them!" so much as they will think "oh thank god I don't have to play detective every time I go to a restaurant or buy something at the store to see if they've hidden peanuts in there"
  • shifty2, on 10/10/2007, -2/+7this is good news for my infant son... he is severely allergic to peanuts. we walked past a Thai restaurant w/ out door seating during dinner time. someone was eat some pad thai as we strolled by. next thing i know his entire face had swollen and as about to go into anaphylactic shock. an epi-pen injection and a trip to the hospital 2 blocks away and all was good. tis some scary *****!!

    but lets all remember the infamous battle between Skinner and Bart with their respective allergies!!
    • mabba18, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Your son cannot go near peanuts with going into shock?

      I feel very sorry for him, as he is going to have a very painful life.
      • shifty2, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1there is a allergy therapy that we will be doing when he's about 3 or 4 (17 months right how). supposedly there is a good chance that he can have less severe reactions to it or (I pray every night) that he will NOT be allergic at all. he is, unfortunately, in the extreme end of the peanut allergy severity bell curve.
  • Langford, on 10/10/2007, -2/+7How do they taste? Do they taste exactly like normal peanuts? Almost tasting like peanuts isn't the same as tasting like peanuts, so I don't want to hear that. If they taste exactly the same, then good, use them and let allergic people enjoy their peanuty goodness. If they are different however, I was never allergic, and I don't want to loose access to real peanuts in the store just because business want to reach a larger demographic by using altered ones.
    • mike17032, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1If they do taste different, I would expect them to just carry both kinds. Like they do for sugar free stuff (because all of that tastes like ass).
  • kerguelen72, on 10/10/2007, -6/+4@evileddy60 - Nicely done - Darwin 4 TEH WIN I agree. Because lame ass mothers raising their kids to be too "clean" compromised their immune systems early - now we have to suffer the fact that a woman on an airplane can make the attendants recall all the peanut snacks. You know, species get stronger by eliminating the weak. If there is an injurred gazelle, you don't see the gazelle flock slow down to it's speed so everyone is "equal" when a leopard is chasing them... do you?
    • jooeyd, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2If I'm ever being chased by giant killer peanuts, I don't expect you to stop and help.
    • ccrook, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2I agree wholely with this. It's harsh, but 100 years ago kids like this would be dead and we'd probably have less peanut allergies. If you're kid can't take someone breathing on them who has eaten peanuts recently, she probably won't survive to reproduce anyway unless you have a closet full of epi-pens.
  • acu8509, on 10/10/2007, -3/+4dugg and +My#1 for enlarging my diet and saving me 70$ a year on epi-pens.
  • TheRedCoat, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8I didn't even know peanuts could have allergies.
  • johnnall, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3A&T is a great school. A lot of brilliant people there. Former astronaut, civil rights leaders, amazing engineers. Makes me proud to be from Greensboro.
    • oneblackcitizen, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1go aggies! (not one myself, but much respect!)
  • Cozmcphish, on 10/10/2007, -1/+13Warning: This comment may contain traces of peanut
    • wbeavis, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Warning: This comment was produced in a facility that contains nuts.
      • mabba18, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Warning: A person working at the facility where this comment was produced once looked at a peanut as a child.
  • Cozmcphish, on 10/10/2007, -6/+1Warning: this comment may contain traces of peanut
  • MrKC, on 10/10/2007, -6/+1Why did Digg pull this story from the front page? Check out this link.

    http://digg.com/tech_news/Microsoft_DIGG_New_Partnership_Launches_MS_Press_Release
  • raitchison, on 10/10/2007, -3/+3I know this will sound harsh, but every time we make accommodations for people it hurts our entire species. Not that someone who dies of a peanut allergy is remotely deserving of a "Darwin Award" unless they know they are allergic and consciously eat peanut products) perhaps we don't need more of those genes running around.
    • mike17032, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3I dont agree with that, at all. By that logic we shouldnt be using any anti-biotoicis, or even any modern medicine of any kind.
      • raitchison, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Antibiotics are so overused it's not even funny, bacteria are becoming more antibiotic resistant all the time as a result. I predict that eventually we will create some unkillable bug that will lead to millions of deaths around the world. In any case antibiotics are used (supposed to be anyways) where there is an infection, not where someone has a genetic condition.

        Re: the modern medicine aspect, that's not what I'm saying, though there are cases where modern medicine is capable of saving someones life who would otherwise die or allowing someone to reproduce who otherwise wouldn't but where doing so results in problem genes being maintained in the gene pool.
    • cptn_cardboard, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Hey, im deathly allergic to peanuts, but I agree. The only problem with your argument is that an allergic reaction to peanuts is NOT carried genetically! When you are a baby, if you are not exposed to these allergans (peanuts, treenuts, pollen) you would not build up a resistance to them, thus becoming allergic to it. The same goes for asthma.

      As an alternative, lets not let people wear glasses. It is, after all, hurting society.
      • raitchison, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1People who wear glasses are already less likely to reproduce, people with bad enough vision also have reduced chance of survival.
  • Ocelot13, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1wait, peanuts have allergies?
  • ers35, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1How do they test these peanuts to make sure they are truly allergy free?
    • milkmage, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4the same way you READ THE ARTICLE to get your answer.
  • BrokenCircle, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Buried for not explaining the methodology behind rendering Ara h2 inactive.
  • evileddy60, on 10/10/2007, -5/+3@ moneyballs2 :

    The point is.. the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

    Seems like Planet America is making it the opposite.

    Why should 90% of the population change for the other 10% ?

    They ban all peanut butter products from school for one or two children? ABSURD!!! Keep those ***** home then if they will die if coming into contact with a common Earth plant. What's next? Ban milk from school because one kid gets the farts?

    Pussification isn't natural.

    The dying off of weaker humans is... we have enough people.. loosing a few million wouldn't hurt.
    • kingpin2k, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Hell, elementary school is ideal...kill em off before they reach breeding age and propogate the weakness. Start spraying peanut dust around a few times a year to weed em out.
    • alex3540, on 10/10/2007, -3/+4wow.

      i hope your kids have food allergies.
      • raitchison, on 10/10/2007, -3/+2Mine don't but if they did it would mean there was something wrong with their genes.
        • mike17032, on 10/10/2007, -3/+4Maybe not. But they clearly have other things wrong with there genes.
  • superbad, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0This sounds like an important first step to developing allergy-free humans.
  • thebeefytaco, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I developed an allergy to peanuts later in life, it sucks I used to love nuts. I would rather they work on a method to get rid of the allergy because most places won't use this anyway.
    • sockpuppets, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2"thebeefytaco" used to love nuts.

      Make your own joke.
  • livnlegn, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1yay! They've made nature synthetic... again.
    Now, they should study the allergen-free peanut for a few decades.
  • SopMan99, on 10/10/2007, -3/+4How is it that 20 years ago, we hardly EVER heard of people being allergic to peanuts? Schools actually served PB&J without the threats of lawsuits. This is just getting stupid...

    I know the article isn't talking about changing ALL the peanuts in the world to these genetically modified versions (which is in essence playing God), let's say that they were....Think about a group of 100 people (say a large office/cubicle room), if just one person were to be allergic to something that they're not required to eat, is it fair to change the food for the other 99....just because one wants to eat something that they don't have to, just because everyone else is.
    • zodieman, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1I agree. I never heard about nut allergies until about 20 years ago. When I was a kid and into high-school nobody was allegic. Now it seems every other kid is gonna die if they even smell a Snickers nearby. My daughter can't even take a PB&J to school or anything containing nuts or nut oil. This is crazy! Who the hell changed the Soylent Green formula without telling us?
    • yndy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Just because you didn't hear about it doesn't mean it wasn't there.
      As someone who grew up with a now-43-year old brother with a deadly peanut allergy I can tell you that it's not a matter of it not existing, it's a matter of there being no public awareness about it.
      People used to use asbestos as well... until it came to light that it kills people.
      Honestly, just because you didn't use to hear something doesn't mean it wasn't a problem
  • hydrokool, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Always cracks me up that people in the U.S. associate Thai food with peanuts. Real Thai food does not have peanuts, it's like saying Nacho's are Mexican.
  • IceSabre, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Even if they have non allergic peanuts... who is gonna trust the people working at the local restaurant to know what that is and whether they use it. "Do you use allergen free peanut oils?" "Uh, sure, yeah!"
  • BillDoE, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2As a person who is deathly allergic to them I can say. Who cares, because I can't even stand the smell of them. Never could since I was about 5 years old. I still wont eat them.
    • hackop, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1As someone who's also very allergic to them, I'm with you. Who cares? I hate the way they taste and smell and I just avoid them. It's my responsibility to avoid eating stuff like this that makes me sick, or, you know, die.

      When I was in school the other kids would eat their PB&J and make bird feeders with PB and pinecones (which I tried, boy was that not a good idea). It never even crossed my mind, or my parents' minds, that anyone else should stop enjoying food they like simply because I'm allergic to it. If I have children and they carry on my allergy, then I would expect them to watch out for themselves just like I did. I knew, even during elementary school, to check for nuts/peanuts in food, and if I wasn't sure, just don't eat it. Why can't kids today do the same damn thing?
  • Anarya, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0I'm hungry.
  • PelotasRosas, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Some of you are taking this anti-political correctness ***** too far. No one is telling you to change your diet or your lifestyle. The article clearly states, "The university paper does not explain the process at all. However, it claims the technique inactivates peanut allergens without degrading the taste or quality of treated peanuts," so all you morons bitching about having to sacrifice something to accommodate for people with peanut allergies are crying about nothing.

    It doesn't really matter what you dumb asses think anyway. "1.5 million [to] 3 million Americans" is a huge audience, and, considering most of those Americans are kids through young adults, that's a lot of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups to be sold (and that's just one example".
    • PelotasRosas, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1PS: Some of you are making the mistake of associating peanut allergies with physical weakness. I'm 6' 1'' and 200lbs, and the odds are with me that I could beat the crap out of all of you nerds talking ***** from your keyboard.
  • Ryhned, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Sorry, all the darwinist comments on this thread are ignorant, because there is no proof that peanut allergies are genetic - and natural selection only works when traits are genetic. My husband is allergic to most tree nuts, but no one else he's related to has the same allergies. So read your Darwin carefully before making stupid comments. No wonder the fundamentalists don't understand Darwinism.
    • yndy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2erm... actually, there's a lot of indication that the peanut allergy is genetic...
      Which is why we tested my daughter as an infant before exposing her to it, since my older brother has the allergy - and we did so at National Jewish - which is the leader in the studies on peanut allergy... and yeah, she has it.
      Doesn't mean the "darwinist" comments aren't moronic - then again, Digg has it's fair share of trolls.

      Anyone whose ever had to watch a loved one almost die because there were "trace amounts of peanuts" in something would sing a different tune. But honestly? it's Digg. It's a haven for morons with keyboards.
  • Rooobbbbb, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0I've been allergic to peanuts my whole life. I just say ***** it and once a year have something with peanuts. I got a ***** epipen for a reason right?
  • VeganG, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Ah, news.com.com, it's like they threw in an extra .com just for good measure.
  • yndy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Best news I've read all month!
    Now when my 4 1/2 year old daughter goes to school or to a friend's birthday party or any place where there's food I may not have to say "no honey, you can't have that cookie - it uses Tollhouse which mysteriously processes peanuts on the same machinery as chocolate chips" or "no honey, you can't have any birthday cake - we don't know if it's safe or not" or "no honey, you can't have the Blue Bunny ice cream - traces of peanuts even in the vanilla..."

    The 'well if it doesn't impact me it's not good news' commenters are clueless... or have never had to jam an epipen into a 2 year old's leg hoping that will keep him/her alive long enough to get to the ER because some child smeared peanut butter on the slide.
  • LogicBomB, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I hope to god they are going to control-grow these if that's the case. Last thing I care for is for us to introduce it into the regular population and later find out it's not that great for you but OOPS, too late.
  • scottyy11, on 02/14/2008, -0/+0Terrific article I wonder when these will be in stores? also any research on what problems these GMO peanuts might cause in the long term

    http://naturalallergycures.net
  • WooWooGirl, on 03/01/2008, -0/+0Allergies will continue to become more rampant in our over vaccinated society.
    Don't change the nut, change us human nuts instead.

    http://www.catallergyfree.com
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