Top 10 CHOICE Reports - CHOICE # 361 (November 11, 2006)
CHOICE readers have cast their votes on the top 10 most
significant consumer issues ever reported over its three decades of
publication.
The event was organized by the Consumer Council to mark the 30th
anniversary of the publication of its monthly magazine CHOICE.
Readers were invited to choose and vote for the top 10 issues,
out of a select total of 20, reported in the past 30 years in
CHOICE that in their view had the greatest significance and impact
on consumers.
CHOICE made its debut in November 1976 and has since been in
publication every month, providing independent and research-based
information and guidance on goods and services, and topics of
interest and concern to consumers.
CHOICE is now developed into a multi-media publication available
in both print and online accessible through internet, fixed line
and mobile phone networks - the first consumer organization in the
world to provide such a full range of multi-media information
access.
Results
of the voting which drew a total of some 890 readers between
October 13 and 31, are as follows in their ranking order:
(1) Household Electrical Appliances (675 votes)
(2) Genetically Modified Food (674)
(3) Edible Oil (646)
(4) Supermarket Pricing (565)
(5) Slimming and Body Fitness (558)
(6) Contamination of Seafood (551)
(7) Credit Cards (533)
(8) Breast Enlargement PAAG (514)
(9) Water Treatment Devices (494)
(10) Condoms (461)
The top honour went to CHOICE reporting on the safety (and
performance) of a wide range of household electrical appliances
such as electric fans, room and water heaters, etc. The consistent
reporting of these products culminated in the eventual enactment of
the Electrical Products (Safety) Regulation in 1997.
Following closely in second place was the global controversy
over genetically modified food. CHOICE was amongst the first
publications in Hong Kong to raise the public awareness of this
important issue with a series of tests on GM food available to
consumers in the Hong Kong market.
In the third place was one of the daily essential foodstuffs -
edible oil, the subject of the Council's first comparative product
testing for the inaugural issue of CHOICE in 1976, radically
changing consumers' reliance on product information solely from the
manufacturers, to a new era of independent and impartial market
information for consumers.
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reserves all its right (including copyright) in respect of CHOICE
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