Nightshade Eaten To Reassure Parents

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32215, 6 February 1970, Page 22

Nightshade Eaten To Reassure Parents

(New Zealand Press Association) HASTINGS, February 5. A Napier doctor said today he had often eaten nightshade berries in front of parents to reassure them after children had been rushed to hospital for treatment.

Dr E. H. J. Berry, of Napier, said he believed a lot of nonsense was talked about the poisonous properties of the berries. He made jam and pies from them. The deady variety of the plant was not found in Hawke’s Bay, yet parents became agitated and distressed when they found their children had eaten the berries of the common plant. “Children are rushed to the hospital to have their stomachs pumped out. and I

have eaten the berries in front of parents to reassure them,” he said. The doctor’s wife described the nightshade jam as fullflavoured and not unlike black currant jam in appearance. However, the District Medical Officer of Health (Dr J. Ramsay), said the stage of ripeness at which the berries were picked would influence ! their toxicity. Although making jam with them was feasible, he would ! have some qualms about eat--1 ing the jam, he said.