BEIJING (AP) - Watermelons have been bursting by the score in eastern China
after farmers gave them overdoses of growth chemicals during wet weather,
creating what state media called fields of "land mines."
About 20 farmers around Danyang city in Jiangsu province were affected,
losing up to 115 acres (45 hectares) of melon, China Central Television said
in an investigative report.
Prices over the past year prompted many farmers to jump into the watermelon
market. All of those with exploding melons apparently were first-time users
of the growth accelerator forchlorfenuron, though it has been widely
available for some time, CCTV said in the report broadcast Monday night.
Chinese regulations don't forbid the drug, and it is allowed in the U.S. on
kiwi fruit and grapes. But the report underscores how farmers in China are
abusing both legal and illegal chemicals, with many farms misusing
pesticides and fertilizers.
Wang Liangju, a professor with College of Horticulture at Nanjing
Agricultural University who has been to Danyang since the problems began to
occur, said that forchlorfenuron is safe and effective when used properly.
He told The Associated Press that the drug had been used too late into the
season, and that recent heavy rain also raised the risk of the fruit
cracking open. But he said the variety of melon also played a role.
"If it had been used on very young fruit, it wouldn't be a problem," Wang
said. "Another reason is that the melon they were planting is a thin-rind
variety and these kind are actually nicknamed the 'exploding melon' because
they tend to split."
Farmer Liu Mingsuo ended up with eight acres (three hectares) of ruined
fruit and told CCTV that seeing his crop splitting open was like a knife
cutting his heart.
"On May 7, I came out and counted 80 (burst watermelons) but by the
afternoon it was 100," Liu said. "Two days later I didn't bother to count
anymore."
Intact watermelons were being sold at a wholesale market in nearby Shanghai,
the report said, but even those ones showed telltale signs of
forchlorfenuron use: fibrous, misshapen fruit with mostly white instead of
black seeds.
In March last year, Chinese authorities found that "yard-long" beans from
the southern city of Sanya had been treated with the banned pesticide
isocarbophos. The tainted beans turned up in several provinces, and the
central city of Wuhan announced it destroyed 3.5 tons of the vegetable.
The government also has voiced alarm over the widespread overuse of food
additives like dyes and sweeteners that retailers hope will make food more
attractive and boost sales.
Though Chinese media remain under strict government control, domestic
coverage of food safety scandals has become more aggressive in recent
months, an apparent sign that the government has realized it needs help
policing the troubled food industry.
The CCTV report on watermelons quoted Feng Shuangqing, a professor at the
China Agricultural University, as saying the problem showed that China needs
to clarify its farm chemical standards and supervision to protect consumer
health.
The broadcaster described the watermelons as "land mines" and said they were
exploding by the acre (hectare) in the Danyang area.
Many of farmers resorted to chopping up the fruit and feeding it to fish and
pigs, the report said.
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