© 2024 University of Missouri - KBIA
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

On genetically modified food and allergies

cornfield
Peter Blanchard
/
Flickr

This week, we’ll see if there’s a connection between genetically modified food and allergies.

Eighteen years ago, genetically modified crops were introduced in the US. First there were tomatoes, then soybeans, potatoes and corn. As the years have passed, more and more farmland has been devoted to these plants, which have a gene added to their DNA, giving them helpful traits like pesticide resistance. 

During that same period, a growing number of children have developed allergies to food. Despite assurances of safety from biotech companies and government agencies, the timing has raised suspicion. Harvest Public Media’s Camille Phillips checked out the research.

Also, for teenagers, the way they cope with problems, along with their personality, could predict how they might behave in general. That’s according to a new study out of the University of Missouri. Gustavo Carlo is a Professor in the MU Department of Development and Family Studies, and was one of the study’s authors. We spoke to Carlo about how personality, coping strategy, and behavior all relate.

Rehman Tungekar is a former producer for KBIA, who left at the beginning of 2014.