| CHANNELS SERVICES |  
Forget the little things like global warming and political corruption, New Zealand has a real scandal on its hands -- toxic zucchini and its great cover-up. They havent quite killed anybody just yet, but there was a lot stomach cramps, diarrhoea and vomiting for 14 unfortunate souls. In its front page lead Friday, the Dominion newspaper revealed that back at the height of summer in early January zucchinis were not good for you and the growers, who knew it, were not telling. It was fairly wet then -- despite summer -- and zucchini has a natural toxin called cucurbitacin which it gives up to deter insects. It is described as having the same charms as cat urine, and does not taste any better. But by the time the growers had noticed, most of the zucchini was in the shops. Growers were advised by Vegfed, the Vegetable and Potato Growers Federation, of the problem in a letter which said the toxin could cause "long lasting harm". Vegfed boss Ron Gall also sent out a letter, reproduced by the Dominion. "This issue," he said of the cat urine toxin, "has not reached the media and we want to keep it that way." Now that it is across the nations front-pages another Vegfed official, Peter Silcock, is fronting up to say they were not keeping the information secret. "As soon as we became (aware) of the problem we immediately began working with the Ministry of Health and Crown Public Health, Christchurch. "We all agreed that issuing the information to the public would be alarmist and like warning people about a storm a week after it had passed," he said in a statement. What was puzzling, though, was that everybody involved reckoned zucchini with the toxin was pretty foul tasting -- yet people ate them. Anything goes, it seems, in a salad or stir fry. All rights reserved. � 2004 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse. Quick Links   Nov 02, 2006 |
|
The contents herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2004 - SpaceDaily. AFP Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |