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TI
PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
I have quoted the above to emphasise the importance of being practical and realistic. If the source of basic information on which we carry out the review is short of being comprehensive, practical and realistic, our further analysis, collation and inference will be biased, inaccurate and unscientific. If that happens, the conclusion made will not be able to stand the test of history.
Another purpose in quoting the above is to emphasise that the government department responsible for public consultation on major policy issues should provide full information and point out what a relevant decision involves so as to avoid prejudice and guard against one inclination covering up another.
After reading the document 'Review of District Organisations' over and over again, I find that to say the least, it has omitted the following important and essential content. For an important consultation paper, this kind of important content is necessary.
The said Consultation Document has not listed out the real reasons for the series of food safety problems in the past year and a half. If the Consultation Document cannot clearly pinpoint for the public the real causes and sources of our food safety problems, how can we work out a suitable remedy? From my experience as the Vice-chairman of the Public Health Select Committee of the Provisional Urban Council, since the beginning of last year, there were 12 food safety cases. In chronological order, they were the Bacillus Anthracis infection scare involving imported milk products from Australia in March last year, the case of O-157:H7 E-coli in beef also in March last year, cholera in May last year, Listeria Monocytogenes in Dreyer's ice-cream in October last year, poisonous vegetables in November last year, deterioration of the bird flu incident again in November last year, cholera in bloody clams in January this year, Clostridium botulinum in tinned meat found in Macau in February this year, cholera in sea water in March this year, another case of O-157:H7 E-coli in beef in April this year, poisonous pig lungs in May this year in which 3 kinds of pig internal organs were discovered to contain Beta-agonist, the recent series of Ciguatoxin in fish and so forth. In fact, each food safety incident has its specific determining cause. We cannot affix the reason in a generalised, simplified way. We should analyse the concrete cases. Is the cause attributed to management problem? Or is it enforcement problem? Are there loopholes in existing ordinances? Is it anything to do with technological standards? Is it the result of improper administration in government departments? Or is it a problem with a certain link in management? Is it a problem with political structure? Or are there other reasons? All in all, we should analyse matters in a practical and realistic way in order to draw the accurate conclusion and develop accurate remedial measures.
The last sentence of paragraph 5.5 in Chapter 5 of the Consultation Document reads, "The fragmentation of policy responsibilities under the present structure affects the development and enforcement of a consistent food safety policy in Hong Kong. It also affects the ability to respond quickly to
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