Question from T. Rice
Hi Debra,
I recently found that peanut shells are used as an additive to pesticides that are sprayed on fruits and vegetables. Is it possible that this is the reason that severe peanut alergies have increased and become so fatal in the last 5 to 7 years?
Debra’s Answer
I have no idea. I would imagine that in making the pesticides, they are so processed that any remnant of peanuts would be broken down.
If that were true, I would think anyone sensitive to peanuts would not be able to eat produce sprayed with pesticides without having a reaction. My father was deathly allergic to nuts and ate pesticide-sprayed produce all the time with no reaction. However, that was prior to 2000.
