My brother was in his mid-20s when he developed a food allergy….[H]e discovered that his unpleasant side effects occurred whenever he ate wheat or gluten. My sweet sister-in-law revamped her cooking to remove all wheat and gluten….A year later and his problems are gone. Unless, of course, he accidentally consumes the offending protein….
Editor’s note: Amanda Zaluckyj is a lawyer and science writer.]
But his story isn’t unique. More than 32 million Americans suffer from food allergies. And the CDC claims those numbers are increasing. For so many, just a bite of the wrong food can be deadly.
There’s good news: Science, using genetic engineering, might have an answer that could reduce or even eliminate the allergens found in so many foods. The bad news: Some well-funded activist groups are willing to dedicate significant resources to make sure it doesn’t happen.
Take the North Carolina food-tech company IngateyGen, named for the West-African Akan language word for “peanut.” Hortense Dodo founded the company to tackle the fatal consequences peanuts pose to those allergic to it. Mrs. Dodo, the chief scientist at the company, developed a hypoallergenic peanut that she says won’t inadvertently kill anyone by silencing the genes responsible for allergenic proteins.
Read full, original article: Hope for food allergy sufferers
