Hong Kong residents have become distracted this week by fears of dioxin poisoning, as worry grows about the effects of about 10,000 rounds of tear gas fired across the financial hub over more than five months of anti-government protests, Trend reports citing Reuters.
Many people are steering clear of fresh fruit and vegetables and warning family and friends to wait a week before eating anything that might have been exposed to the gas that has shrouded various neighborhoods at times over the months.
According to some advice that has spread online, women should avoid becoming pregnant for two years if they have been affected by the agent.
The city government has said it has found no evidence of dioxin poisoning from tear gas, but that looks unlikely to allay the fears, especially, some critics say, as authorities have not fully explained what chemicals are in tear gas.
“Spread this message, avoid eating poisonous fruits, dioxin is extremely toxic, peeling off the fruit skin won’t remove the toxin,” one online message said this week.
Most fruit in Hong Kong is sourced from a wholesale market in the working-class district of Yau Mai Tei on the Kowloon peninsula, a protest hot spot where police fired volley after volley of tear gas on Sunday and Monday.
Yau Mai Tei is also a stone’s throw from Polytechnic University, the scene of some of the most intense clashes between protesters and police last weekend.
On Monday, patients at the nearby Queen Elizabeth Hospital were advised to stay indoors and others to steer clear of its out-patient clinics.
Fruit vendors at the Yau Ma Tei market said business had dropped up to 80% this week.
Some have shut up shop or closed early as customers stay away, but they all shrugged off worries about their fruit.