ECNS
5 September 2016
Hearsay alleging seedless grapes are produced with
contraceptive drugs has hit a cultivation center hard in the eastern Chinese
city of Yantai of Shandong Province.
In a video, a grape seller was heard saying that all
grapes without seeds are the result of contraceptive drugs, making the fruit
harmful to children and possibly causing sterilization.
Farmers in the city's Milukuang village, which grows
66 heaters of grapes, said the local fruit purchasing station sold 15,000
kilograms of grapes every day in the past but now sells only one-tenth of that
after the 40-second video went viral.
Prices for grapes also decreased sharply, from around
9 yuan per kilogram to less than 6 yuan. It's estimated that the rumor would
cut a household's average income by half.
Jiang Kequn, director of the village's agricultural
cooperative, said seedless grapes were developed in recent years through the
use of gibberellin, which regulates growth and has nothing to do with
contraceptive drugs.
Some farmers suspect competitors growing seeded-grapes
intentionally made up the story. […]