ARSENIC SCARE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 18 June 1926, Page 3

ARSENIC SCARE

EFFECT -ON AMERICAN TRADE The- arsenic-scare lias had a disastrous effect on the English market J'or American apples, stated the London Observer of April 11th. Retailers', it is stated at Oovettt Garden, have 'been chary, owing to the risk of prosecution, of buying apples, and dealers generally feel relieved that the American season is now practically oveV, . , There is no possibility of danger, it is explained, from home-g'rovvn apples; and the incoming crop from Australia and New Zealand is reported to be thoroughly clean. The difficulty with American apples is the necessity lor late spraying. There are three broads of the codhn moth .arid in order to destroy the pest American growers have been obliged to spray the trees when the fruit is fully formed. At home we spray only before the flower appears, and again immediately after the petals have fallen . The practice is stated to be similar with Australian growers, who find no need to spray after the apples have formed. Before the next season fo>r American apples begins it js considered very probable that some arrangement will be made, perhaps by extensive washing in the particularly dry belts wliich are most susceptible to contamination, to guarantee the crops to be free from arsenic. Canadian growers, many of whom have been as much affected by the scare as those in the States, are already considering whether late spraying should be altogether prohibited. That some steps will have to be taken in the future .to guarantee American apples is pretty evident, if they are still to have, a market here. Two rings of protection that have been set up make it difficult to-day fur all but the cleanest crops to enter the English market. I he contamination circular issued four mouths ago by the "Ministry of Health not only put medical officers of Health all through the country on guard against the presence of arsenic on apples, but also N called the attention of the port sanitary authorities to the new danger. The result has been, on the one hand, numerous prosecutions of retailers for .selling contaminated fruit, and, on the other., refusals to allow suspected consignments to lie landed at all. English growers have never had such an opportunity as they have to-day of influencing the market in favour of home-grown fruit. The question is whether thev will all make the' l»est use of it .