Do pineapple growth hormones cause precocious puberty? The Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute refutes the claim, and CTS admits its verification was inadequate
It is pineapple season right now, but yesterday CTS News reported that some farmers give pineapples growth hormones to speed up their growth, and that people who eat them may experience early puberty. Many farmers say outright that after variety improvement, few people use growth hormones, and they worry that the inaccurate report will affect prices at the place of production. The Council of Agriculture's Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute also clarified that plant growth hormones and animal growth hormones are two different things and cannot be lumped together. CTS News took the news down this afternoon and admitted that its verification was inadequate; an internal review is under way.
Pineapple farmers worry prices will be suppressed
Yesterday CTS News reported "Hormones force-ripen pineapples! Eating too many may cause early puberty," stating that unscrupulous pineapple farmers give growth hormones to make pineapples bigger and sweeter, and that children who eat them may have their hormones affected, leading to early puberty. The reporter even compared two pineapples on the spot, claiming that one of them had a core five times larger than the other and had very likely been given growth hormones, and that if the skin's eyes were larger and rounder it might not be a natural pineapple.
Nantou pineapple farmer Hsieh Chen-hung clarified that after variety improvement most farmers do not use growth hormones. Some people may still use them to increase returns, but the fruit tastes sour and astringent, which consumers dislike. In fact, as long as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers are well controlled, natural pineapples taste very good. He also clarified the rumor that a pineapple that sounds more "meaty" when tapped has growth hormones, saying outright that the sound is only used to tell how much water content there is and cannot determine whether growth hormones were used.
Right now is the start of the season for the fresh-eating Tainung No. 17 "Golden Diamond" pineapple. In the past the purchase price was 12 or 13 yuan per jin, but now in Nantou it is only 9 yuan. He worries that the inaccurate report will once again affect prices at the place of production, and hopes reporters will get a chance to farm and experience for themselves how crops grow.
Zheng Jinqiang, section chief of promotion at the Dashu Township Farmers' Association in Kaohsiung, said that plant growth hormones can enhance water absorption. When "Kaiying" pineapples were grown 10 or 20 years ago, farmers did use growth hormones to make them look bigger, but now consumers do not like too much water content; they prefer dry, sweet small pineapples, which has also broken the old idea of valuing weight over quality. When selling, they are priced by the "piece," so farmers simply do not need to use growth hormones anymore.
He said he has not yet heard of wholesalers cutting prices because of this, and that here in Dashu the price is still maintained at about 13 yuan per jin. Guanmiao pineapple farmer Yang Yu-fan believes that the price cutting may be the work of a small number of wholesalers, but as long as the media exaggerate and report inaccurately, it is the farmers who suffer in the end.
Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute: Plant growth hormones and animal growth hormones cannot be lumped together
