Public warned not to buy tainted cucumbers
By Wang Qingchu |
February 17, 2011, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
PEOPLE were warned yesterday not to buy cucumbers with flowers on the top as artificial growth hormones containing elements from birth-control bills were used to shorten growing times in Shandong Province.
Cucumbers with yellow flowers were very popular in wet markets in Jiaonan City, Shandong. The vegetables were considered tender and fresh.
"People in the industry all know these cucumbers contain hormones," a dealer selling cucumbers at a wet market told Qingdao Morning Post yesterday. "They taste bad and can even harm your health." When a cucumber grows naturally, the flower withers and falls off when it matures, the dealer added.
The growth hormone is also available at the market. The seller boasted that the growth hormone makes the cucumber mature 50 percent faster and keeps the flower from drying up.
Yang Yanjie, an associate professor at Qingdao Agriculture University, said the cucumbers have not been tested.
"So far no tests have been done on the vegetables to confirm the danger," Yang said. "But using the hormones clearly violates the order of nature, so people should not buy them."
A farmer surnamed Xue told the newspaper that some farmers produce a liquid hormone using compounds from birth control pills.
Cucumbers with yellow flowers were very popular in wet markets in Jiaonan City, Shandong. The vegetables were considered tender and fresh.
"People in the industry all know these cucumbers contain hormones," a dealer selling cucumbers at a wet market told Qingdao Morning Post yesterday. "They taste bad and can even harm your health." When a cucumber grows naturally, the flower withers and falls off when it matures, the dealer added.
The growth hormone is also available at the market. The seller boasted that the growth hormone makes the cucumber mature 50 percent faster and keeps the flower from drying up.
Yang Yanjie, an associate professor at Qingdao Agriculture University, said the cucumbers have not been tested.
"So far no tests have been done on the vegetables to confirm the danger," Yang said. "But using the hormones clearly violates the order of nature, so people should not buy them."
A farmer surnamed Xue told the newspaper that some farmers produce a liquid hormone using compounds from birth control pills.
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