Page 69 of 126
120
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. JOSEPH CHAN YUEK-SUT (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, concerning the Food Control Office at Man Kam To, I would like to know whether it is the work of the Urban Council. As regards construction and administrative costs, will these be borne by the Urban Council or will part of the costs be borne by the Urban Council?
MR. PAO PING-WING (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, under the powers given to us by the relevant laws on food hygiene, the import of food falls within our jurisdiction although not all administrative and construction costs should be borne by us. As regards the administrative and management costs, all these details will be ironed out by the Working Group. The Working Group will come up with detailed proposals. In principle, I believe the Urban Council and the Regional Council and the other Government departments have to jointly bear the costs of administration, operation and management.
DR. THE HON. ELSIE TU (in English): Mr. Chairman, my question concerns why we hold hawkers responsible for not neutralizing a pesticide and selling the vegetables when even the experts don't know how to deal with it. And therefore my question has already been asked by Mr. WONG and Mr. MAN Sai-cheong, more or less.
MS. ANNA TANG KING-YUNG (in Cantonese): Thank you Mr. Chairman. My question has already been asked by Mr. WONG but I would like to supplement that before a case is heard in court, we must take prosecution action first. Since there is no evidence to prove that he is guilty, so I think a thorough investigation is necessary before prosecution action is taken.
MR. PAO PING-WING (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, as I have said that USD before taking prosecution action against those hawkers who sold poisonous vegetables had carried out thorough investigations. This is a standard practice employed by USD at present.
MR. CHAN TAK-CHOR (in Cantonese): Thank you Mr. Chairman. The issue of poisonous vegetables has disturbed us for many years. We know that the source of the vegetables is from China and the UC is only responsible for the monitoring of the retail aspect. From the answer, it seems that the UC is in a position to do nothing. The UC can only tell the residents that vegetables are poisonous and that's all we can do. Can we take the initiative to contact the Chinese Government or the relevant departments requesting them to raise penalties or to raise their awareness of the seriousness of the incident. Have we approached other Government departments concerned to contact the Chinese Government for more stronger action. We should not be afraid of affecting the relationship between China and Hong Kong as lives of common people are involved. Can the Chairman of the relevant Select Committee express some views on this?
MR. PAO PING-WING (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, I share the view of Mr. CHAN Tak-chor. In order to eradicate the problem, we should deal with the problem from the source. As Mr. CHAN has pointed out, we are only responsible for the retail aspect and it is impossible for us to eradicate the problem. We are also very concerned about the source of those vegetables. In fact, the relevant Government departments have on many occasions liaised with the Shenzhen Authorities as well as the Guangdong Authorities. They have liaised with Shenzhen Commodity Inspection Bureau and have exchanged views of the Chinese Authorities concerning the areas raised by Mr. CHAN. But as you know, the vegetables are grown in Mainland China, so we cannot instruct people in Mainland China what they should do. We can only make suggestions. At our last meeting, the Committee discussed this matter, and decided that on 25 November, we have invited all members to go to the border control office to look at the operation of the control office and I hope that all members can take part in the visit on 25 November.
MISS CHRISTINA TING YUK-CHEE (in Cantonese): My question has been asked by other Councillors. However, once again I hope that USD can carry out a thorough study as soon as possible because hawkers selling poisonous vegetables are actually innocent. In addition to stop operating businesses, if they are brought to the court, they have to spend twenty or thirty thousands dollars to engage the service of a lawyer. In this respect, I hope the Council should immediately urge the department to do something to solve the problem.
(The Hon. Frederick FUNG Kin-kee arrived at 3:01 p.m.)
CHAIRMAN (in English): The comment is to be noted and it is not a question.
MISS CECILIA YEUNG LAI-YIN (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask, apart from the surface of the vegetables, is the inner parts of the vegetables also poisonous or not? All along the publicity is focused on calling upon the public to wash the vegetables thoroughly and to discourage the public from buying vegetables. May I know whether it is fit for human consumption if a thorough washing is done?
MR. PAO PING-WING (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, this is a technical issue as to whether washing is sufficient and how to wash the vegetables. Anyway, this is a technical problem. At present, contamination of methemoglobin cannot be dealt with sufficiently by any neutralizing agents. So basically we still hope that the Government Laboratory and the Department of Health will study the matter and make recommendations in the near future. We hope that more members of the public can come forward to conduct more researches.
MISS CECILIA YEUNG LAI-YIN (in Cantonese): I would like to thank Mr. Pao for his detailed reply to part of my question. I would really like to know that, apart from the surfaces of the vegetables are the inner parts also contaminated by the pesticides?
CHAIRMAN (in English): The straight answer is that in addition to the pesticide being on the surface of vegetables, a certain amount of pesticide is inside the vegetables.
Page 69 of 126
121
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 69 of 126