Application of medicine: Animal hormones were applied when the cucumber was still a small fruit. (Material Picture)
Growth: The cucumber flower isę²¾ed with red medicine, blooming very brightly. (Material Picture)
Maturity: Due to the high concentration of the medicine, the bottom of the cucumber swells. (Material Picture)
May 17th, Beijing - According to reports from China National Radio, recently multiple local media have exposed that some young cucumbers sold on the market have been treated with hormones during cultivation. Online posts claim that urban management officers violently beat an elderly vendor and were surrounded by women (with pictures). There are even rumors that these cucumbers have been treated with contraceptives. This news has also attracted widespread attention online. For more details, we immediately connect with on-duty editor Jie Feng Xu.
The practice of applying contraceptives on cucumbers is no longer a novelty.
Host: Please introduce us to the situation regarding the rumors about cucumbers being treated with hormones?
Editor: According to multiple local media reports, in places like Zhuhai, Xi'an, and Nanjing, tender cucumbers sold in the market may have been treated with hormones. Some vendors even claim that applying contraceptives on cucumbers is no longer a novelty.
In these reports, one from the Xinhua News Agency today has attracted a large amount of attention from netizens. The report states that journalists in Nanshing Town, Zhuhai City, observed many residents worried about the use of hormones in vegetables sold at markets to the extent that they cultivate their own vegetables on reclaimed land. In interviews, one resident stated, "The most frightening thing is the cucumbers with flowers on top." He heard that all cucumbers sold on the market with flowers on top were treated with contraceptives and estrogen. Eating them could lead to infertility or even sterility, among other terrifying results.
For plants, contraceptives belong to animal hormones.
Host: Is this rumor true? Have relevant departments or research institutions come out to clarify?
Journalist: Relevant media also interviewed food monitoring departments and agricultural experts. According to testing institutions at some agricultural product wholesale markets in Beijing, although Beijing has gradually started detecting hormone drug usage in agricultural products over the past few years, the rapid detection methods currently used in the market can only detect pesticide residues and heavy metals. "They are powerless against hormones," said the source.
Regarding the rumors of "contraceptive cucumbers," a researcher from China Agricultural University stated that this is a misunderstanding. "After cucumbers bear fruit, the falling off of the top flowers varies in time and does not fall off all at once." Vegetable research expert Wang Qiang from Nanjing also pointed out that fresh cucumbers with "top flowers and spines" indeed have undergone treatment, but he does not agree with the notion that it is caused by 'contraceptives.' For plants, what can effectively impact them should be plant hormones, while contraceptives belong to animal hormones. There is a fundamental structural difference between the two, making them unrelated fields.
Netizens criticize the lack of supervision and the numbness of administrative accountability mechanisms.
Host: What opinions have netizens expressed regarding this incident?
Journalist: The rumors about "contraceptive" cucumbers have sparked heated discussions among many netizens. Many netizens expressed that upon hearing this news, they doubt its truthfulness, but over the years, issues such as toxic bean sprouts and toxic long beans... in domestic agricultural products have emerged frequently, making people cautious. A Sina Weibo user commented that reclaiming land for personal vegetable cultivation is worth encouraging. Congratulations to the residents of Nanshing Town in Zhuhai who have leisurely cultivated their own vegetables, at least ensuring their health in a turbulent world, keeping "toxic food" off their dining tables. Other netizens stated that condemning immoral farmers and unscrupulous vendors solves nothing. The root problem lies in the lack of supervision and the numbness of administrative accountability mechanisms.