Source: The Messenger via The Meridian Institute's Food Security and Ag-Biotech News
Author: Jane Treadwell

The American Peanut Council, which represents U.S. farmers, processors, exporters, and manufacturers, has given "the go ahead" to research for the development of genetically modified (GM) peanuts.

Carl Sanders, president of the Alabama Peanut Producers Association, says the goal is to create GM peanuts (a.k.a. groundnuts) that are "more nutritious, more disease resistant and possibly herbicide resistant." A GM peanut, he says, could be ready in "eight or 10 years." The GM research is expected to cost about US9.5 million, according to the American Peanut Council, and will require university, government, and industry support.

The article reports that until now U.S. peanut producers have been reluctant to endorse the use of genetic engineering. Sanders says: "What changed the thinking was that genetic engineering has been successful on other food products and that China and India are already working on peanuts that are genetically engineered."

The article states that U.S. peanut acreage dropped in 2006 whereas acreage of cotton and soy, which have "benefited from genetic modification" increased.

The article can be viewed online at www.troymessenger.com/articles/2006/12/29/news/newssss02.txt