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.
It looks like China’s food supplies are taking it in the chin. First the pet food scandal. Now this.
..just wait til they hear about the exploding cupcakes
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.
ping
“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?
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!
I gotcha yer “killer banana” right here baby.
And I’m real glad to see you.
...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...
“And more Americans get their news from the ABC than from any other station...”
Horrifying!
I was just going to ask what other rumors we could start for them. LOL!
“Killer banana rumour grips China”
Thanks for the laugh, that’s funny :)
I thought this was a family site???
Oh the shame......
And it really cost them a bunch!
signed, Carmen Miranda
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.
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