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  • 2000.09.15

Substandard glass-top tables pose hazards of accidental overturning and sharp broken glasses 

Dining tables with glass top are seemingly in vogue these days.

But concerns have been raised about their safety. Do they topple easily? Do they break easily into sharp deadly shards?

At least two cases of accident involving overturned tables were reported in 1998 resulting in death and serious injuries to two children.

To heighten consumer awareness of the potential hazards of this product, the Consumer Council has tested 11 samples of glass-top tables. Purchased from furniture chain stores, the samples comprised 9 round and 2 rectangular table tops priced from $725 to $1,699.

The results were far from reassuring.

On the strength and stability of the table, which is essential to forestall accidental overturning, the test found 4 samples failed the vertical stability test of the British Standard BS4875:Part 6:1985.

The samples overturned when a vertical force of 300N (approximately the weight of a 9-year-old child) was applied. The worst sample could withstand only up to 200N.

In addition, 1 sample failed the vertical static load test of the BS4875:Part 5:1985. After applying 10 times a vertical downward force of 100 kg for 10 seconds on top of the table, the table caved in and the height became deformed from 76 cm to 71 cm.

These results raise the spectre of unstable table crashing down on nearby users and in particular young children in the event of an accident - not to mention the presence of food, utensils or hotpot that may come tumbling down as well.

As these tables are fitted with glass tops, the hazard of broken glass is of equal serious concern. Of the 11 samples, only 4 disclosed on the label the type of glass used - 3 tempered glass and 1 intense glass (but did not specify if it was a tempered glass).

When tempered glass that has been toughened in its manufacturing process breaks, it shatters into smaller and less angular fragments. But when ordinary glass breaks, the reverse holds true.

In the test, the glass table tops were dropped to fall freely from a height of 1 m onto a 2.5 cm hemispherical puncher. The results revealed that 6 of the samples had their glass tops broken into large, irregular, dagger-like shards capable of causing severe injuries to their victims.

The glass tops of 5 of these 6 samples were found also to be inadequate in their thickness.

Consumers are urged to consult the test report in this September issue of CHOICE and to always exercise due caution in the use of such tables and young children in particular should be warned not to play with these tables to avoid serious accidents.

Primary One textbook expenditure: 13-fold increase in 2 decades 

20 years ago, in 1980, the average expenditure for textbooks for Primary One pupils was $98.80.

Today, in 2000, the same expenditure has escalated dramatically to $1,401.60, an increase of 13 times!

Secondary students fared comparatively better. The increase for Form One, which had the highest average textbook expenditure of all grades, was 7 times - $260.40 in 1980 and $2,129 in 2000.

These statistics were derived from the annual surveys of the Consumer Council over a period of 2 decades.

The issue of rising textbook prices and expenditure is a complex one and publishers are not alone to be blamed. The problem has been attributed to a multitude of reasons.

The latest survey on this year's textbook expenditures, based on the booklists of 23 primary schools and 49 secondary schools, indicated that despite deflation, textbook prices have remained unchanged in their continuous escalating trend.

In the primary school sector, the average textbook expenditure for this year was $1,378 representing an average increase rate of 6% over 1999.

Whereas in the secondary school sector, the average expenditure was $1,832.30, a rise of 3.5%.

To find out how rising textbook expenditures are adding to the burden of parents, reference was made to the changes in the median monthly household income for the period from 1982 to 2000 (as such statistics were available only from the last quarter of 1981).

The results are equally daunting. In the 18 years period, the increase in textbook expenditures for Primary One and Form One was 11 times and 4.7 times respectively. The median monthly household income, for the same period, rose by 3.9 times - from $3,600 in the 2nd quarter of 1982 to $17,500 in the 2nd quarter of 2000.

There are complicated reasons for the increases in textbook expenditures over the past 20 years some of which are:

  • The introduction of new subjects such as Computer Studies, Design and Technology, Putonghua, etc.
  • The implementation of Target Oriented Curriculum (TOC) in the primary schools, which requires the purchase of more worksheets and exercise books.
  • The need to revise textbooks as more information was added.
  • Improvement on the printing quality of textbooks.
  • The production of more teaching aids such as CD-ROM, tapes, etc. to accompany textbooks.
  • And according to the Publishers' Associations, the dwindling number of students in Hong Kong thus limiting the benefits of economies of scale for the trade.

To alleviate the burden of parents and students, the Consumer Council has recommended that:

  • Non-profit-making organizations and schools should undertake to organise more sales of secondhand textbooks.
  • Wordings such as 'optional' or 'for reference only' should be printed on the booklists for those non-compulsory books/workbooks. Schools can play a role by providing more copies of these materials in their libraries.
  • Schools should consider preparing teaching materials themselves for certain subjects.
  • Publishers should reduce some of the superfluous pictures or excessive spaces in the textbooks.
  • It is high time to review the textbook market in Hong Kong due to the growth of electronic media and on-line publications.

Consumers are at risk of untruthful and exaggerated claims of some health foods

The Consumer Council has raised concerns over the untruthful and exaggerated claims of some health food products.

The Council believes that a comprehensive review of the issue should be undertaken to better protect consumers in this fast growing market of health food consumption.

In a report in CHOICE, the Council highlighted the regulatory approaches that have been adopted in some countries in recent years.

Health foods products are generally referred to as functional foods, or known as nutraceuticals, pharma foods or dietary supplements.

Japan, for instance, is one of the first countries to impose control over functional foods which are defined as "Food for Specified Health Use" and include conventional foods only.

In the U.S., vitamins, minerals, amino acids or herbs in the form of capsules, tablets, etc. are regulated as "Dietary Supplements". Manufacturers are allowed to make certain health claims if they meet the criteria of the Food and Drug Administration.

In China, health foods must be registered with the Ministry of Health and registration is based on the safety and efficacy data of the products.

In Hong Kong, functional foods are regulated under various Ordinances:

  • The Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance regulates products that contain western medicines, including vitamin pills.
  • The Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance regulates the safety, ingredients and labels of conventional foods.
  • The Chinese Medicine Ordinance controls traditional Chinese Medicines.
  • The Undesirable Medical Advertisements Ordinance prohibits advertisements with certain medicinal claims such as capable of curing cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease or AIDS, etc.

The Consumer Council notes that despite this body of legislation in Hong Kong, misleading health claims can still be promoted by some health foods to the detriment of consumers' health.

Besides wasting precious money, consumers are at risk of not getting the expected functions from such products. More seriously, patients relying on such untruthful health claims can put their health at risk if they fail to consult doctors in time.

The Council welcomes the initiative of the Health and Welfare Bureau in studying ways to regulate the health claims of functional foods.

Consumers, on the other hand, owe it to themselves to scrutinise carefully health claims made by such foods in the interest of their own health.

First ever test results on WAP mobile phones

Attention to all users and intended buyers of WAP phone handsets. The much awaited test report on WAP handsets, the first of its kind by the Consumer Council, is now available. 

In the test, 7 models with WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) features which can be used to access online services, were compared for their performance and convenience.

The WAP models were evaluated for their performance in respect of information content of the display, setting capabilities (such as access settings and possibilities of storing favorites or bookmarks) and operating speed. 

Also evaluated were their convenience in respect of ease of setting up, accessing the homepage, navigating in WAP sites, entering URL addresses, saving favourities and ergonomic features of the display.

One of the WAP models doubles up as PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) and possesses extra features such as a large phone and address book, schedule calender as well as English-Chinese and Chinese-English dictionary. This particular model also has a large touch screen and users can use its handwriting input method to input Chinese characters. 

The WAP models were among 15 new models, including 14 dual band and 1 triband, in the Council's latest test of mobile phone handsets. Prices of these handsets ranged from some $1,300 to $5,480. 

The testcovers all important aspects such as intelligibility, sensitivity, battery performance (standby time and usable time), tumble evaluation and convenience.

Results showed that while intelligibility was quite good in all models, battery performance however varied significantly. 

The test results are presented together with the results of the Council's previous tests on 21 other models (which have been published in past issues of CHOICE) in a comparative table for easy comparison of consumers. 

Basically, handsets differ quite substantially in their design and features. Consumers can choose according to their own needs and requirements.

Survey shows reliability of air-conditioners,washing machines and VCRs getting better 

Imagine users from 3,000 households sharing the benefit of their experience on the use of 5 domestic electrical appliances.

Don't miss out on this rare source of consumer information and advice.

To tap valuable users' experience, the Consumer Council has conducted a massive survey to gauge consumer satisfaction or otherwise towards the reliability, agents' repair services and loyalty of these appliances. A previous similar survey was conducted in 1993.

Appliances under survey were: air-conditioners, washing machines (including 2-in-1 washer-dryers), desktop personal computers, TV sets and video cassette recorders. Highlights of the survey include:

  • Compared with 1993, the reliability of washing machines, window type air-conditioners and VCRs has decidedly improved as the breakdown rates of these appliances dropped to low levels (5% to under 15%).
  • Washing machines of the impeller/agitator type were more reliable than the drum type. For machines of age 3 years or below, the reliability of the former has jumped from 86.7% in 1993 to 96.6% in the latest survey, whereas that of the latter from 72.3% to 86.5%.
  • Washing machines were also found to be more reliable than the 2-in-1 washer-dryers. For machines of age 3 years or below, the breakdown rate of the former was 11.3% while it was 21.2% for the latter of the same age.
  • In the case of air-conditioners aged 3 years or below, the overall reliability improved from 88.3% in 1993 to 94.1%. Window-type air-conditioners were more reliable than the split-type: 9.1% of the window-type developed defects after 3 to 6 years whereas the defect rate for the split-type of the same age was 18.9%.
  • With VCRs, reliability went up from 75.3% in 1993 to 88.7%. As for TV sets, reliability remained more or less the same over the years while computers were not rated in the last survey.
  • In the survey, 'branded' computers were found to be more reliable than computers assembled with components of different brands. For machines of age 3 years or below, the breakdown rate for the former was 23.1% while that of the latter 33.9%.
  • In general consumers were more satisfied with the agents' repair services on TV sets and washing machines than VCRs. Due to insufficient data, consumer satisfaction was unable to be rated for air-conditioners and personal computers.
  • The brands in the survey were compared for customers' loyalty for repurchase. No direct correlation was found between brand loyalty and their reliability and repair service. Other factors could also play a part such as price, performance, design, special features and sales promotion of the products.

Consumers are strongly advised to take advantage of these useful users' experiences contained in the survey, and to consult the report in this issue of CHOICE.