Imagine a child in a doctor's office, screaming at the top of his lungs when he about to receive a shot for a vaccine.  With the use of genetically modified foods, a child may never have to go through that again.  Scientists are currently researching, with help of funding by the US Department of Agriculture, the possibility of inserting a vaccine into the genome of a fruit or vegetable, making the vaccine edible.

        At the University of Illinois, a test was performed on mice.  Scientists genetically engineered cherry tomatoes to elicit an antibody response to build protection against a virus in the immune cells.  The virus they tested was the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which first attacks these immune cells (along the nose, throat, mouth, and intestines).  RSV is responsible for 90,000 hospitalizations each year (mostly children and the elderly) and 4,500 deaths.  Currently, no effective vaccine is available.

        In their research, the scientists fed these cherry tomatoes to 25 mice.  Out of that group, 22 were found to have increased levels of antibody production.  This means that most of the mice that were fed the genetically modified tomatoes were protected from the RSV.
 Not only would edible vaccines be much less painful than an injection, they would also be more readily available.  It would be easier and more efficient to get the vaccines to people third world countries, where the vaccines are desperately needed.  They can also be used by veterinarians to be given to animals.

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