Watermelons burst in China farm fiasco

[meegbear]

Source: kxan.com

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.

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.

Read more: http://www.kxan.com/dpps/news/strange/fields-of-watermelon-burst-in-china-farm-fiasco-ob11-jgr_3813656

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[Brickbat]

1. I hate that this kind of thing is labeled "news of the weird" or "strange." It's gross, and it's

also tough for the farmers. In any case, I buy no food from China.

[crikkett]

9. almost all black beans available for sale in the States, are from China.

just so you know.

[Brickbat]

11. I don't buy black beans.

Problem solved!

[TuxedoKat]

16. Dried Black Beans?

I usually buy canned. I just made soup with some yesterday and ran to check where they were from after reading this. Fortunately, I bought Goya brand black beans, product of the USA. I'm going to start checking all labels more closely though.

[crikkett]

33. Last I read about this was 2009

http://vtdigger.org/2009/12/02/your-organic-food-made-in-china-part-1-why-you-should-give-a-hill-of-beans/

[CAcyclist]

12. check your food closely if you buy at Whole Foods

A lot of their organic frozen foods hail from China, which is one reason why I avoid the store in general.

[Brickbat]

13. There's no Whole Foods here, and if there were, I would avoid it because of their labor record.

[Angry Dragon]

2. I hope no one was hurt in the fields of 'land mines'

[Sal Minella]

3. I keep thinking of the dairy cows in this country

subjected to this every day so Big Ag can produce cheap milk and force the smaller dairy farmers out of business.

And the small dairies can't legally label their milk "hormone-free" because Big Ag wrote the laws on that, too.

bah.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Aerows]

5. Yummy

Exploding fruit over-saturated with chemicals. That sounds delicious. :sarcasm:

[bongbong]

6. Free Enterprize RULEZ!

Over-regulation by government caused this (heard on Fox "news").

[AlecBGreen]

7. I used to live in China

some of the more unscrupulous market vendors would let the melons soak overnight in the (heavily polluted) river that ran through town. They would soak up the water and swell, so the farmers could sell them for higher prices. I got sick once, VERY sick, and lost 5 lbs in two days. Im betting it was the fruit :puke:

[smirkymonkey]

17. This is why I don't think China is going to be the economic super-

power that everyone thinks it's going to be. Don't they see how their unscrupulous business practices are going to come back to bite them in the ass?

[PassingFair]

31. At least THEIR executives go to jail...or worse.

Ours get bailed out.

China doesn't have any kind of monopoly on unscrupulous business practices.

The cure is in the regulation.

[Roland99]

8. How long until this happens here when the Repukes remove the last vestiges of regulation?

[AtomicKitten]

10. mmmm growth chemicals

[rsdsharp]

14. This gives me pause.

I spent a couple of weeks in China in August 1991. Watermelon was everywhere. It was unbelievably delicious, the best I ever had, and we ate it at almost every meal. This feels like an oops moment to me.

[JustAmused]

15. Hmmmm

Well no one else has said it so I will....


Gallagher would LOVE this

[Rosie1223]

18. Somewhere Gallagher is weeping.

:hi:

[MrsBrady]

19. if you need growth hormone on your melons, you're doing it wrong n/t

[slackmaster]

20. We cannot allow an Exploding Watermelon Gap!

[BOG PERSON]

21. i've been watching cctv all day and so far the only coverage they've had

was a five minute segment about non-exploding watermelons? :shrug:

[DeSwiss]

22. Forchlorfenuron!?!?!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18713753">Forchlorfenuron alters mammalian septin assembly, organization, and dynamics.

- More shit in our food.....

K&R

[fascisthunter]

23. everything for a buck!

shows what the business owners think of humans around them.

[NCarolinawoman]

24. Thanks for the link....

I think. :-(

[Nihil]

32. Also see downthread ...

> The U.S. allows forchlorfenuron to be used for growth of grapes and kiwifruit ...

... so you can't avoid it just by sticking to US produce either ...

:-(


(ETA: posted by kpete in #27)

[canetoad]

25. I'm bad

but the first thing I thought of was this thread from the other day.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1107026&mesg_id=1107026

[OKNancy]

26. kick

[kpete]

27. Chemical May Have Caused China Watermelons to Burst in Feilds,

Source: Bloomberg

The use of a chemical that prompts plant growth may have contributed to overripe watermelons bursting in their fields in eastern China, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

More than 700 mu (47 hectares or 115 acres) of melons in the city of Danyang in Jiangsu province were ruined when they burst open, Xinhua reported yesterday. The chemical forchlorfenuron may have caused some of the watermelons to burst, the news service reported, citing Wang Liangju, a professor at Nanjing Agricultural University. Heavy rainfall after a recent drought may have also contributed, according to the report.

“I have never seen this phenomenon,” said Bob Morrissey, executive director of the U.S. National Watermelon Association in Lakeland, Florida. “Watermelons do not burst only from rainfall.” The U.S. allows forchlorfenuron to be used for growth of grapes and kiwifruit and the chemical isn’t classified in China as an illegal food additive.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-17/chinese-watermelons-explode-maybe-from-growth-chemical-xinhua-says.html

[damntexdem]

28. Or is it really that China, anticipating a ban by the UN on landmines, is developing an alternative?

;-)

[harun]

29. You are what you eat.

[jmowreader]

30. I think I know what happened

Two years ago someone figured out forchlorfenuron would make watermelons grow larger.

Last year someone actually tried it on his watermelon crop. He followed the recommendations on the label and the watermelons DID get larger.

This year, someone thought 'if the watermelons got bigger by following the recommendation, putting twice as much on the crop will make them even bigger." He did it and all his watermelons exploded.