Does personal hygiene exist in Hong Kong ?

[firefox]

Is SARS the only reason for this sudden interest in personal hygiene ? Didn't the population in Hong Kong think about washing their hands or keeping their home environment clean before ? The keep clean propaganda by the government looks like a last minute effort to save face. The Hong Kong government has become really good at creating rules, but not enforcing them. I am not saying that a hardline approach should be adopted as is the case in Singapore, but enforcement measures need to be taken. For example when the bird flu outbreak occured it took the Hong Kong government took a real long time to realize that the individuals selling live chickens need to clean their cages and limit the number of chickens slaughtered in their shops. But did the shop vendors listen ? I don't think so. After the government took a further step to make it compulsory to clean out their shops and enforced harsh fines, some vendors were still defiant. So what does it take to improve public health in this country ? It surely looks that the efforts of the government have gone up in a puff of smoke, for the simple reason that rules are not enforced. You have those muncipal officers walking around markets who are supposed to issue warnings and spot fines, but many of them fear that the shop owners will threaten their lives. So why have them in the first place. Offences related to public health and cleanliness need to be treated as criminal offences instead. As commercial businesses prefer to pay fines and then continue with their old practices. With SARS, is the health department the only party who should carry the burden of the aftermath ? I say, no. The buildings department and the environment department all have to prove their accountability. We pay taxes for, what ? So we can have a public parade of government officials telling us, " I think so" and "We are working on it". Thats not good enough. The director of the buildings department Marco Wu said that when the Amoy Gardens building was built it was built according to the standards set by the government at the time. Many years have passed since its construction. Have the structures of buildings changed, is the buildings department being proactive and moving with them times to adapt its policies and rules ? This is something that needs to be addresses. If you look at the core problem which is public health and hygiene illegal activities continue in this country such as illegal constructions, failure to address sanitation issues in buildings and failure to stop the dumping of waste in certain areas. The economic loss faced in this country has been the only thing that has made people in this country wake up and realize the poor state of public health and sanitation in this country. Hong Kong being as materialistic as it is this looks like the only way to make people listen. A loss of income = a realization that action needs to be taken to save their already fragile economy and personal hygiene. On a closing note its not just the government who needs to clean up their act but every citizen. If they don't, the worst nightmare of the Chinese people will occur and that is "Losing Face" to the whole world.

[shri]

Absolutely does exist.

You have to keep in mind that parts of Hong Kong are pretty much thirdworld, in both thinking and cleanliness. This is no different from most places I've lived in, including Chicago, Washington DC and most places I've travelled to in Singapore.

The SARS incidents have highlighted a need for elevated personal hygiene for all of us. I never used to wash my hands everytime I walked in or out of my office and touched an elevator button or opened a door. I do so now and so do many others that I know of.

[Indi_glow]

Thats the reason why I dumped Cathay shares & reinvested in those manufacturing soaps & detergents.

[shri]

Cathay will be a good buy as soon as it goes below 8.

3M stock



SCHERING-PLOUGH (Ribavirin) has not had the same amount of luck.


3M stock increases are also in part due to massive stocks taken up in the middle east of various filters / protective gear.