Technical Abstract: Scientists with the United States Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service and scientists with the University of Georgia located at the Coastal Plain Experiment Station in Tifton, Georgia have been conducting research on aflatoxin contamination of peanut since the early 1960's. Early efforts were focused on identifying the risk factors for increased aflatoxin contamination and helped to document the importance of drought, high soil temperatures, and pod damage. Later efforts were focused on the development of screening techniques and the identification of sources of resistance to Aspergillus colonization and/or aflatoxin contamination. This laid the foundation for a conventional breeding program and has resulted in the development of peanut breeding lines that have high yield and low aflatoxin contamination relative to standard check cultivars. Recent research efforts include studies on the use of molecular genetic approaches to reduce aflatoxin contamination. This includes the evaluation of genetically engineered peanut and the development of molecular markers.