TNAG-1606-FCO40-22121-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1987 — Page 73

+

Question No. 5

Reply by the Hon. E. P. Ho, CBE, JP,

Secretary for Trade and Industry,

to a question from the Hon. CHUNG Pui-lam in the Legislative Council on 25 March 1987

Question:

In view of the recent tragic death of a six year old boy who accidentally consumed tape recorder cleansing fluid at home, will Government inform this Council what measures, if any, are available at present to control the sale, labelling and usage of domestic products which contain poisonous or toxic substances and whether action will be taken to tighten up these control measures in the immediate future?

Sir,

If I may say so this tragic case, which has been described in the

Coroner's report as a very rare occurrence in Hong Kong, highlights

the need for every family to practise safety at home more

than anything else.

2.

As regards the points raised in Mr Chung's question,

depending on one's definition of domestic products, there

a number of Ordinances which cover the sale and labelling

of some such products. However there is no legislation

which controls the usage of these products after they have

been sold.

3.

For example, certain household chemicals are

controlled under the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, which

requires them to be sold by listed sellers of poisons and

labelled as "poison".

The Dangerous Drugs Ordinance contains

/provisions