Govt: Thai exported canned fruit not contaminated with HIV

[yougivemebaby]

After Brunei media has presented news, saying Thai canned fruit products are contaminated with HIV

That isn't even possible, is it?

No, it is not. The virus cannot live outside of the body.

Sounds like something a primary student would say. What's wrong with people?

By the way did you try the low carb peanut butter cups?

[Thaddeus]

Some someone in Brunei got HIV and when asked how he got it he said, "From some fruit from Thailand."

Unbelievable that anyone would believe that you could get HIV from canned fruit. They probably think they can get rabies from fish.

Guess its no different really than the Chinese (and interestingly Victorian British) believing Syphilis is cured by having intercourse with a pre-pubescent female virgin! Lack of education - the cause of many of the worlds ills I believe.

It's a little off topic but it is quite interesting and I believe to be true, that one of the first cures for syphilis was to deliberately infect the patient with malaria as syphilis could not live in the high temperature the body would get to.

Of course the downside was that the patient then had malaria.

[Thai at Heart]

Should be fun. Where is the guy being sued for bazillions because of child labour in the Thai fruit processing industry. I mean that definitely couldn't happen could it.

How much will they chase the HIV story spreaders for?

[RubbaJohnny]

Our neighbour was a fruit now he's a vegetable

[aras]

no not possible.

Virusses dont survive long outside the body.

hiv virusis very weak and transmission rates even with blood to blood contact are very low.

It seems you need to get a fresh and big chunk of blood in your mouth to even have a chance of it infecting you.

[paz]

The EU is a quagmire. Think that we are talking a lot of member states all with their own requirements and local laws. The important thing was getting some unified framework for member states (i.e. cross EU) - and this is what the EU is all about really - servicing the member states. It stands to reason that they make it more complicated for competing countries (the USA have fallen foul of this - and we nearly had an EU/USA banana war a decade back!).

I owned a restaurant in the UK when the EU first formed - it seemed every month we were getting different regulation - some of them bonkers (like yours) some of them the opposite to early changes (180 degree u-turns) - and the media did not help publicising rumours as impending changes either! Once we were even threatened with closure because the ceiling in a store room where only tinned items were stored, and which has another storey above, has slightly torn paper (i.e. the last owners has papered the ceiling and over time a box of something had caught it and torn the paper like an inch or so). The plaster boards above the paper were fire proof (another rule), so the "risk" was contamination - from what???? and into tin cans in cardboard boxes on wire shelves? So I fixed it by pasting up a sheet of news paper - then it got the pass (no paint, just a page from a news paper wall paper paste and voila!) - madness.

Federalisation (which was the aim of the EU) always causes too much red tape controlled by people who don't give a rat's arse about the consequences or costs they incur, just their own importance (which is pretty much nil as an MEP - most people don't even know the names of their own MEPs!).

I agree there is an over-abundance of rules but why blaming the EU? You were given an hard time by an UK agency that applied the little they understood of the regulations. They wanted to play with you, you played right, infraction noted and corrected for the statistics, then they moved on. They have to justify their jobs too you know.

[anotheruser]

I have no idea if it is possible, but what about transmission by dirty needles if the virus can not live outside of a body?

[Scott]

Let's stay on the topic. The EU regulations are a little too far off-topic for this thread.

HIV and needles is slightly different. The virus has trouble living in the open air. Inside blood, inside a syringe is a less hostile environment. It is not exposed to air in the short term.

We do have medical people that can probably explain it a little more technically and a more accurately.

[jbrain]

all factories must have certified GMP and HACCP before the products could be shipped out.

Of course, even the noodle shop around the corner here has a ISO 9002 certificate and is HACCP licensed.

[gerry1011]

I have no idea if such a thing is possible but i do know that i wouldn't trust the words of a single so-called Thai expert on any subject whatsoever !

If you don't even know if a can of fruit or a canned fruit can or cannot be contaminated with HIV... my God !!! .... I would certainly not trust you on any subject either.

[jbrain]

I have no idea if such a thing is possible but i do know that i wouldn't trust the words of a single so-called Thai expert on any subject whatsoever !

If you don't even know if a can of fruit or a canned fruit can or cannot be contaminated with HIV... my God !!! .... I would certainly not trust you on any subject either.

Obviously the Brunei government also didn't know if it was possible or not .

[RubbaJohnny]

And of course false degrees ,phoney qualifications and inspection are unheard of ,lucky this isn't one of those corrupt Italian mafia style places where thugs could tell lies with impunity.

[gerry1011]

 

I have no idea if such a thing is possible but i do know that i wouldn't trust the words of a single so-called Thai expert on any subject whatsoever !

 

If you don't even know if a can of fruit or a canned fruit can or cannot be contaminated with HIV... my God !!! ....    I would certainly not trust you on any subject either.

 

 

 

Obviously the Brunei government also didn't know if it was possible or not .

Thus, in the case of this unbelievable rumor, it was the perfect occasion to, at least for once, leave the Thai bashing aside... Some just can't resist the temptation.

Sent from my HTC One using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[delh]

Some someone in Brunei got HIV and when asked how he got it he said, "From some fruit from Thailand."

Unbelievable that anyone would believe that you could get HIV from canned fruit. They probably think they can get rabies from fish.

I like the fruit of Thailand

[Tigre101]

Another scare mongering rumour posted on a social media web site on the 24 th August 2013 that is taken as true

Why has it surfaced now?

Good question.

Another one is just who is Thai Agricultural Ministry accusing when they say:

the accusation through Brunei media

If as you say, it was posted on social media (do you have a link please), then that surely doesn't constitute Brunei media.

As for the Brunei news media itself, I've not found any mention of this story (either the original or any follow-up) in a search of a variety of Brunei news sources. If anyone can find any news article that prompted the Thai response, please post.

Brunei is not an uneducated country and it seems far-fetched that that the premise of getting HIV through canned fruit gaining traction seems very implausible.

[Tigre101]

I have no idea if such a thing is possible but i do know that i wouldn't trust the words of a single so-called Thai expert on any subject whatsoever !

If you don't even know if a can of fruit or a canned fruit can or cannot be contaminated with HIV... my God !!! .... I would certainly not trust you on any subject either.

Obviously the Brunei government also didn't know if it was possible or not .

I await any corroboration that that is the situation.

Not only is their no discoverable news from the accused Brunei media, there is also no discoverable news from the un-accused Brunei government on the issue.

[noitom]

I have no idea if such a thing is possible but i do know that i wouldn't trust the words of a single so-called Thai expert on any subject whatsoever !

Especially one wearing a white coat with a little green medical emblem.

[cup-O-coffee]

After Brunei media has presented news, saying Thai canned fruit products are contaminated with HIV

That isn't even possible, is it?

Think! If true, we are all contaminated by now. It would not only be selective to Thai canned fruit.

The surprising thing is that a country makes accusations like this, which could cause a riot mentality and breed violence in many areas, and the WHO does not step in immediately to put them in their place.

The sheer lunacy of this entire affair is that there is only a Thai guy in a lab jacket facing the accusations, whilst the tweets are allowed to go unchecked ...and the medical world looks on. People have been jailed for offenses less than this.

Are people in Brunei truly that stupid?

Next!......

[Bkungbank]

If they says mercury or lead will be more reasonable as the HIV virus cannot live more then few minutes outside host body