WARNING ON USE OF HORMONE SPRAYS

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27439, 27 August 1954, Page 9

WARNING ON USE OF HORMONE SPRAYS

NEW COMPOUNDS MAY BE HARMFUL

(From Our Own Reporter) NELSON, August 25. Warning of the risks attending the use of hormone sprays was given by Dr. H. O. Askew, of the Cawthron Institute, in his presidential address to the annual conference of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry. Since the war, he said, hormones, fungicides and insecticides had increased rapidly in number to the bewilderment, not only of the chemist, but also of the horticulturist to whom they were offered for use. The hormones, or growth regulators, acted in two capacities—either to increase or reduce growth. Some of them would do both. Orchardists used them for thinning out crops and for increasing the rate of ripening. Gceat care was needed as the hormones had upset the normal life of the organism, said Dr. Askew. Did we know enough about them to say that these hormones or their conversion compounds in the plants and fruit were really harmless to man and animals? It seemed to be interfering with nature in a dangerous way with results that might not be for our eventual benefit, he said.