What price the perfect apple?  

Plant growth hormones are widely used in fruit cultivation to give consumers uniform, blemish-free products. But with little published research into their impact on human health, the risks are as yet unknown. Apples occupy an important place in Swiss hearts and shopping baskets – they are the country’s most popular fruit, and on average consumers munch through just over 100 apples a year, according to the Swiss Fruit Union (SFU), a lobby group for the country’s fruit farmers. Unknown to many apple lovers, however, is that their favourite fruit is probably sprayed with potentially harmful plant growth hormones to enhance its size and colour. Some 300 kilos of the chemicals, also known as cosmetic pesticides, are sprayed every year in Swiss apple orchards, enough to treat 83% of all land used to grow the fruit. The hormones are also used to manage a tree’s crop, a process known as chemical thinning, reducing yield which in turn increases the size of the remaining fruit at harvest.