With peanut allergies on the rise, the race is on in laboratories, farm fields and medical clinics. Nobody has yet broken through, but promising research is being done on several fronts as scientists try to turn the potentially lethal legume into something everyone can eat.
"A lot of people are starting to try to get into the field, because of the urgency," said Soheila J. Maleki, a research scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in New Orleans.
Maleki is among the researchers digging into the genetics of the peanut, trying to breed a harmless variety. Other scientists are treating peanuts after they have been pulled from the ground, trying to erase that which creates extreme -- even fatal -- reactions in some people.
Some doctors and parents of allergic children say none of this is likely to assuage the fear that a child could end up in the emergency room after ingesting even trace amounts of the chemicals tucked into the proteins of the legume. Instead, they would prefer the focus be on finding a cure for the allergy.
"I think it's really neat that people are exploring options," said Lissa Roberts, a Maryland woman whose 7-year-old daughter is severely allergic to peanuts, milk and eggs. "But I don't think it does anything for us, because they can't guarantee it won't be free of (all allergens) and that's too big a risk for us.
Some figures have shown that allergies to foods -- with peanuts being one of the most dangerous -- have doubled or tripled in the past decade. The reasons for the increase have eluded doctors.
Food allergies cause roughly 125 deaths a year, the majority of which are blamed on peanuts.
