It has been a few weeks since the scandal surrounding the use of illegal additives in food products broke and the initial firestorm has all but died down now that the owner of one of the offending companies has been indicted.
The indictment and lengthy sentences sought by prosecutors may have calmed those baying for blood, but unfortunately it will not stop the media from continuing to run a series of outlandish and frankly spurious claims about the people and chemicals involved in the affair.
The panic caused by the plasticizer brought out the worst in Taiwan’s media, which have a reputation for scraping the bottom of the barrel. However, some of the rumors and untruths media outlets have peddled recently involved them actually breaking through the bottom of the barrel, after which they just kept on digging.
At the height of the food scare, we were treated to a string of revelations about the family who owned one of the companies charged with using illegal additives.
In the kind of nonsensical rant that often passes for news analysis on these fine shores, Chen Feng-hsin (陳鳳馨) stated on TVBS’ 2100 flagship talk show that even though the son of the owner of one of the companies involved had defended his father’s products, he also never drank pearl milk tea or drinks from convenience stores — a claim that was later debunked.
Another talking head ridiculously suggested that the large amount of plastic shoes found at one of the factories meant that the company had probably been making plasticizers by using the shoes as raw material.
However, the craziness did not stop there.
Last week, Next TV anchor Tsai Chin-yu (蔡沁瑜) said she suspected her young daughter’s leukemia was the result of plasticizers and plastic compounds contained in the large amount of microwave meals she had consumed during her pregnancy. It did not matter that a doctor had told her that there was absolutely no possibility of a link between the two — she remained convinced.
What is that saying about journalists not becoming part of the story?
When you thought it could not get any worse, the Apple Daily reported earlier this week that in February a Taichung mother gave birth to a premature baby with an unusually small penis. It took four months, and of course the specious claims linked to the plasticizer scandal, for her to figure out the reason for her son’s miniscule manhood: She drank bubble tea almost every day during her pregnancy. Eureka!
It seems the plasticizer scandal has brought long--standing insecurities among certain sections of the male populace bubbling back to the surface.
Both the Apple Daily and CTV have run stories questioning whether the long-term use of illegal plasticizers in Taiwan and its alleged side effects on reproductive organs are responsible for — according to their “information” — the nation’s average penis size being 6mm shorter than their Western counterparts. There has even been talk of conducting a study to investigate this.
Let’s hope the “news” does not spark a global bout of intercontinental plasticizer--provoked penis envy.
And where, you may ask, were those guardians of media standards, the fine, upstanding members of the National Communications Commission, while all this sub-standard, scientifically--challenged reporting was going on?
My guess is that they were at home in front of the mirror with a tape measure.
Joe Doufu is a Taipei-based satirist.
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