Police to Investigate FB Post with False Information|網路散播香蕉含致癌農藥防檢局截圖送辦

發布時間：2018/6/14 16:48 更新時間：2018/6/14 18:14

The Council of Agriculture recently responded to a Facebook post which claims that the bananas on sale contain carcinogenic compound. They believe the post contains false information resulting in significant losses to banana farmers. A screen shot of the post is now sent to the police for further investigation.

The government is trying its best to help out banana farmers who suffer losses due to plummeting prices. However, a recent Facebook posted states that a carcinogenic component, Kresoxim-methyl has been detected in the bananas on sale. The Council of Agriculture has responded to the rumor, saying that the post was from six years ago, and their tests in the last three years have shown that 97.6 percent of the bananas do not contain excessive amount of pesticide residue.

Kresoxim-methyl is a type of pesticide, but it is not allowed to be applied on bananas. In recent years, the Ministry of Health and Welfare has not detected such chemical on banana.

The Facebook group on June 13 admitted that they made the mistake of not clarifying the information prior to posting. The group has apologized to the banana farmers, the Council of Agriculture and the public. However, the Council believes that the false information has caused significant damage to banana farmers and it insists on resorting to legal measures.

The act of propagating false information leads to the public misunderstanding the situation. We have resorted to legal measures in hopes to curb similar acts in the future.

This is the first time that the Council of Agriculture resorted to legal measures on the propagation of false information. A ruling DPP lawmaker recently proposed to amend the law to detain the perpetrators at detention center for three days as they post false information on the internet. The proposal was met with mixed responses. Currently, the Cabinet has set up a dedicated web page to allow member of the public to clarify any information that is in doubt.