Greens issue warning on nitrate levels

THE GREEN party yesterday said it had found nitrate concentration levels almost double the permissible levels in vegetables taken from three different fruit markets.

Speaking to reporters at a news conference Limassol Green party parliamentary candidate Pieris Hadjipieris said it had taken six vegetable samples from two Nicosia grocers and one Limassol grocer and four vegetable samples from a Limassol health food shop.

Hadjipieris said the nitrate concentration levels in greengrocer’s lettuces was almost double the permissible limit (4308mg/kg as compared to the legal 2500mg/kg), while samples of celery, cabbage and parsley were much nearer the permissible limits. On the other hand vegetables taken from the health food shop had nitrate levels much lower than the permissible limits.
Referring to the effects of large concentrations of nitrate, Nicosia Green party parliamentary candidate Melina Menelaou, a biologist, said “the most vulnerable group are babies and infants because high concentration of nitrate in the blood causes cyanosis in children”.

She said: “In the first stages the haemoglobin cannot transport oxygen to the cells and in more severe cases it can cause brain damage and even death.” Other side effects include a malfunctioning thyroid and vitamin A deficiency.

The Greens called on the health services to carry out more systematic and frequent inspections at shops selling vegetables, to put an end to the notion pesticide suppliers are horticulturalists, to adopt a new agriculture development plan which will give farmers the necessary know-how, stricter regulations at fertiliser and pesticide shops and to help motivate farmers to move towards biological farming.

Following the results of their investigation the Green said they planned to promote small scale biological farming in peoples’ gardens.
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