We are living in the ‘Spray Of Plenty', as Tommy Kapai suggested in his recent letter,‘Are we the Spray of Plenty?'. And those of us who are against the high usage of horticultural sprays, are not being listened to.

This is because kiwifruit and avocados are a multi-million dollar industry, led by people who focus on producing the best fruit for the best price, and with little regard to effects on our health or the environment.

They do not want tests done to provide evidence on the effects of the chemicals used in the recommended spray programmes to produce the perfect fruit. They need to improve the situation soon or I feel there will be devastating consequences, such as increased respiratory problems and cancer in people, all our bees dying, and our soils and environment becoming so toxic they are unusable for future generations. Although there are other sprays being used for many purposes, the quantities used on our local orchards are the biggest threat to us.

Making all orchards organic would solve that problem, and surely smaller fruit and a later harvest is not as important as producing fruit that is chemical-free and saving us from a toxic environment?

J Floyd, Katikati.