Meloncholera Melancholy ?..............
Posted on 05/18/2011 8:55:10 AM PDT by Red Badger
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 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 United States 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 the horticulture department at Nanjing Agricultural University who has been to Danyang since the problems began, 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,” Prof. 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 three hectares of ruined fruit and told CCTV that seeing his crop splitting open was like a knife cutting his heart.
(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...
Meloncholera Melancholy ?..............
Minorities hit hardest.
Can we do this to OUR watermelons, the enviro-coms?
0bama’s fault.
>> forchlorfenuron
Mmmmm... just the MENTION of forchlorfenuron makes MY mouth water.
And then there is this:
(And before someone asks, I will post this until the idiots in government alter this insane and now dangerous UNILATERAL trade policy with China and the fools in the multinationals STOP exporting the production of EVERYTHING to China and bring those jobs home.
As you think about that, recall that in ancient times, the Romans and others would catapult disease-riddled corpses over the walls of cities they besieged to sicken and kill the enemy. The Chinese know that history even if we obviously have forgotten it. Get my drift there?
On a recent visit to China, a friend spotted this ad in a Beijing newspaper. He sent me the photo with a translation of the ad copy.
Yes, you can now join the millions of happy and prosperous Chinese citizens taking advantage of the growing numbers of American and Western multinational corporations “outsourcing” their production to the hard-working and industrious people of China. This outsourcing has now spread to their food supplies and ingestible items. Since these firms pay us for gross weight – and this new weight will be pretty gross – and the stupid American government only spot-checks imported items in these categories (they just got lucky on the anti-freeze thing), it has opened an entirely new opportunity which our beloved Chairman is offering to any Chinese citizen willing to do a little of what the foolish Americans call “grunt work.”
Installing one of these state-of-the-art food additive production facilities behind YOUR hovel is as simple as clipping the coupon below and sending it to the address shown. Your production plant will be shipped to you in 4 to 6 weeks. Supplies are limited so don’t fart around. ACT NOW!!
These silly Americans have an expression we have “borrowed” and modified to describe this new and exciting venture: “Don’t give me any s**t.”
Our motto will be “We won’t GIVE you any s**t. But we’ll SELL it to you fools at a really great price.”
Better yet, we convince them to COME HERE to pick it up and save us the shipping costs.
AND LOOK FOR A NEW DROP-DEAD MONEY-MAKER COMING SOON. SOYLENT YELLOW PROMISES TO BE BIG!!
AND YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED TO KNOW THAT THE “CHERY” PERSONAL VEHICLE TO BE IMPORTED BY CHRYSLER IS SIMPLY A HORIZONTALLY MODIFIED VARIATION OF THE VERTICAL UNIT SHOWN ABOVE. WE SIMPLY SLAP AN ENGINE AND SOME WHEELS ON THAT PUPPY AND OFF SHE GOES! AMERICA’S VAST ILLEGAL POPULATION OUGHT TO SNAP THEM UP LIKE TACOS.
Is that satire?...............
Wet weather would have done that without the chemical boost. The numbers involved is what makes it news.
gunnery Sgt R. Lee Ermey with samurai sword...
A farmer had a field of watermelons. Annoyed that people were stealing them, he put up a sign stating “One of these watermelons is poisoned”. The thefts stopped. Proud of his effective cleverness, he wandered over to the sign, looked at it, and smiled with pride. Then he stopped smiling. The “one” was crossed out, replaced with the word “two”.
Exploding Chinese Watermelons is a great name for a punk band
A lot like Smashing Pumpkins!..............
Why can’t they leave our fruits and vegetables alone? Has anyone had a tomato lately that has any taste at all (unless you grew it yourself)?
OMG I like that~!
forchlorfenuron-ping
Yum!
on the vine in your supermarket....pretty good, though no home grown.
Tomato's lose their flavor upon refrigeration. It has nothing to do with chemicals or growth hormones.
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