Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Killer banana rumour grips China
BBC ^

Posted on 05/25/2007 6:02:33 PM PDT by traumer

A rumour spread by text message has badly hit the price of bananas from China's Hainan island, state media say.

The messages claim the fruit contains viruses similar to Sars, the severe respiratory illness which has killed hundreds of people worldwide.

Producers in Hainan say the resulting price slump is costing them up to 20 million yuan ($US2.6m) a day.

China's Agriculture Ministry has dismissed the Sars claim as baseless. Police are investigating its source.

"It is utterly a rumour," a Chinese Health Ministry official was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

"There has not been a case in the world in which humans have contracted a plant virus, and there is not any scientific evidence."

Safety scares

Hainan bananas had already been subject to rumours they caused cancer, after the banana plantations were hit by blight earlier this year.

The banana fears come amid international concerns over tainted Chinese exports, including allegations of poisons in pet food and toothpaste.

The state-owned China Daily newspaper recently criticised China's food safety regulators and called on the government to do more to protect Chinese consumers.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bananas; china
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-35 next last

1 posted on 05/25/2007 6:02:34 PM PDT by traumer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: traumer

It looks like China’s food supplies are taking it in the chin. First the pet food scandal. Now this.


2 posted on 05/25/2007 6:06:08 PM PDT by OldPossum
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: traumer

..just wait til they hear about the exploding cupcakes

3 posted on 05/25/2007 6:06:41 PM PDT by Doogle (USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: traumer

Hmm... When the lowest bidder is a Communist State with an attrocious human rights record, and no freedom of speech...

People will believe just about anything. An incredible rumor is on par with the incredible facts published by their State owned newspapers.

The solution? Either believe everything you read, or disbelieve it all.


4 posted on 05/25/2007 6:06:46 PM PDT by coconutt2000 (NO MORE PEACE FOR OIL!!! DOWN WITH TYRANTS, TERRORISTS, AND TIMIDCRATS!!!! (3-T's For World Peace))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: traumer; All
A rumour spread by text message . . .

The means of propagation.

5 posted on 05/25/2007 6:07:11 PM PDT by dighton
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dr. Eckleburg; flutters; genefromjersey; Ptarmigan; mom4kittys

ping


6 posted on 05/25/2007 6:09:01 PM PDT by Calpernia (Breederville.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: traumer

“The messages claim the fruit contains viruses similar to Sars, the severe respiratory illness which has killed hundreds of people worldwide.”

Hundreds?

HUNDREDS?????

So IOW, more people drowned in their bathtubs than died of SARS in the past 12 months?


7 posted on 05/25/2007 6:10:16 PM PDT by Grunthor (You do not fix a criminal issue by making it no longer a crime.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: traumer

Time to boycott Chinese bananas, and everything else.

So I guess they have found a way to copy a banana made from toxic leftover materials, verrrry crever!


8 posted on 05/25/2007 6:12:37 PM PDT by Eye of Unk
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: traumer

I gotcha yer “killer banana” right here baby.

And I’m real glad to see you.


9 posted on 05/25/2007 6:13:41 PM PDT by garyhope (It's World War IV, right here, right now courtesy of Islam.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Grunthor

...more people drowned in their bathtubs than died of SARS in the past 12 months?

And more Americans get their news from the ABC than from any other station...


10 posted on 05/25/2007 6:13:57 PM PDT by traumer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: traumer

“And more Americans get their news from the ABC than from any other station...”

Horrifying!


11 posted on 05/25/2007 6:17:29 PM PDT by Grunthor (You do not fix a criminal issue by making it no longer a crime.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Doogle

I was just going to ask what other rumors we could start for them. LOL!


12 posted on 05/25/2007 6:19:31 PM PDT by DanielLongo (Don't tread on me)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: traumer

“Killer banana rumour grips China”

Thanks for the laugh, that’s funny :)


13 posted on 05/25/2007 6:19:33 PM PDT by jedward (Mission '08 - Take back the House & Senate. No Negotiations...No Prisoners.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: traumer
A banana Cluster Bomb about ready to go off


14 posted on 05/25/2007 6:21:45 PM PDT by Dumpster Baby ("Hope somebody finds me before the rats do .....")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: traumer
Bananas are doing strange things over there.


15 posted on 05/25/2007 6:23:30 PM PDT by Lady Jag (A positive attitude will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lady Jag

I thought this was a family site???

Oh the shame......


16 posted on 05/25/2007 6:30:04 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: traumer
A rumour spread by text message has badly hit the price of bananas from China's Hainan island, state media say.

And it really cost them a bunch!

17 posted on 05/25/2007 6:50:29 PM PDT by Ken H
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: traumer
"The messages claim the fruit contains viruses similar to Sars, the severe respiratory illness which has killed hundreds of people worldwide."

signed, Carmen Miranda

18 posted on 05/25/2007 6:56:33 PM PDT by dynachrome (Henry Bowman is right.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tet68
Really. You can't even walk around there.



19 posted on 05/25/2007 6:57:12 PM PDT by Lady Jag (A positive attitude will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: traumer

Self-defense Against Fresh Fruit

Colonel (Graham Chapman):
Get some discipline into those chaps, Sergeant Major!

Sargeant (John Cleese, shouting throughout):
Right sir! Good evening, class.

All (mumbling):
Good evening.

Sargeant:
Where's all the others, then?

All:
They're not here.

Sgt.:
I can see that. What's the matter with them?

All:
Dunno.

Chapman (member of class):
Perhaps they've got 'flu.

Sgt.:
Huh! 'Flu, eh? They should eat more fresh fruit. Ha. Right. Now, self-defence. Tonight I shall be carrying on from where we got to last week when I was showing you how to defend yourselves against anyone who attacks you with armed with a piece of fresh fruit.

(Grumbles from all)

Palin:
Oh, you promised you wouldn't do fruit this week.

Sgt.:
What do you mean?

Jones:
We've done fruit the last nine weeks.

Sgt.:
What's wrong with fruit? You think you know it all, eh?

Palin:
Can't we do something else?

Idle (Welsh):
Like someone who attacks you with a pointed stick?

Sgt.:
Pointed stick? Oh, oh, oh. We want to learn how to defend ourselves against pointed sticks, do we? Getting all high and mighty, eh? Fresh fruit not good enough for you eh? Well I'll tell you something my lad. When you're walking home tonight and some great homicidal maniac comes after you with a bunch of loganberries, don't come crying to me! Now, the passion fruit. When your assailant lunges at you with a passion fruit...

All:
We done the passion fruit.

Sgt.:
What?

Chapman:
We done the passion fruit.

Palin:
We done oranges, apples, grapefruit...

Jones:
Whole and segments.

Palin:
Pomegranates, greengages...

Chapman:
Grapes, passion fruit...

Palin:
Lemons...

Jones:
Plums...

Chapman:
Mangoes in syrup...

Sgt.:
How about cherries?

All:
We did them.

Sgt.: Red and black?

All:
Yes!

Sgt.:
All right, bananas.

(All sigh.)

Sgt.:
We haven't done them, have we? Right. Bananas. How to defend yourself against a man armed with a banana. Now you, come at me with this banana. Catch! Now, it's quite simple to defend yourself against a man armed with a banana. First of all you force him to drop the banana; then, second, you eat the banana, thus disarming him. You have now rendered him 'elpless.


20 posted on 05/25/2007 6:57:28 PM PDT by Oztrich Boy ("Caesar - he is a barbarian and considers that the customs of his tribe are the laws of Nature")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-35 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson