Some time ago, words such as "plastic laver" and "plastic rice" appeared on the Internet, and they all proved to be rumors. However, recently, some people have taken "plastic fans" to "hot fry".
A video circulating on the Internet said that fans are also made of plastic, "all burnt out are black plastic". The video has been widely spread on social media, pushing fans to the forefront for a time. Subsequently, various media and scientific websites spontaneously came out to do experiments to dispel rumors, but they still could not dispel some people’s doubts.
Why do such rumors emerge one after another, and why do people always believe them? Experts said that the root cause comes from the opacity of information, the public does not have professional knowledge, and the authoritative departments have not voiced rumors in time, and these are issues that everyone is generally concerned about.
Webcast "Plastic Fans" Video
Around February 23rd, the video of "Plastic Fans" began to circulate on the Internet. In the video, a middle-aged man opened a bag of Longkou vermicelli and lit it with a stick. After the vermicelli was burned, he left some black residue. The man claimed that he was "pungent" during the lighting process, and he concluded that the bag of vermicelli was made of plastic. It is understood that there are many versions of similar videos. The experimenters in the video are both men and women, and the conclusions are the same. They all say that the fans they bought are made of plastic.
Such videos were widely forwarded in WeChat circle of friends, Weibo, etc., which pushed fans who people often eat to the forefront for a while.
According to the Peony Evening News reported on March 15th, an older citizen of Heze, Shandong Province, said that not only had she never bought any fans since she saw the video circulating on the Internet, but even the remaining fans at home were afraid to eat it. "I don’t know how to judge whether the fans I bought are true or not, but I can burn them, and it looks a bit like something ignited by plastic." The citizen also said, "Never mind whether the video content is true or not. Anyway, I haven’t bought any fans recently, and I’m afraid if I’m not afraid of 10 thousand."
In fact, as early as February 24, the company involved in the "Plastic Fans" video had already issued a statement on its official Weibo, sayingIt is unscientific to distinguish whether the vermicelli is made of plastic by burning.
The company said, "Generally speaking, there are only two kinds of high-quality vermicelli ingredients on the market: starch and water, and starch itself is a kind of carbohydrate, and it is a combination of organic polymers. Because it contains more hydrocarbons, it is flammable. The better the quality of the vermicelli, because of its good purity and the dried product, the vermicelli will have some hollow structures, so it will naturally burn after the ignition point reaches the burning condition, because the hollow structure will make a crackling sound. "
The company also said that it had reported the case to the public security department, and it was investigated for legal responsibility for maliciously slandering its brand and misleading consumers.
At the same time, the Professional Committee of Starch and Starch Products of China Food Industry Association has also issued a statement and refuted the rumor, saying that the burning identification method is unscientific, and has called the police to investigate the legal responsibility of the rumor spreaders.
Inspection institutions and related industries are greatly affected by rumors.
Although there have been rumors from enterprises, industry associations and some media and scientific websites, this kind of video is still the same as "plastic laver", and many people have joined the team of forwarding "reminding" others. Until now, there are still people forwarding this video and rumors.
On March 8, WeChat Security Center released the top ten rumors in February, and plastics made the list three times. The top ranked and most widely spread is "plastic laver", which is in the second place. The fourth place is "plastic rice". In a video, a man throws a white plastic bag into the machine, and in a short time, a pile of things similar to rice is produced at the other end of the machine. In the WeChat circle of friends, the video was dubbed "black-hearted rice" and was madly transmitted by netizens. The truth of the matter is that this is just a plastic granulation process. "Plastic fans" ranked seventh.
According to the report of Modern Express on March 20th, Wang Ling, director of the Agricultural Products Inspection and Testing Center of Zhongcai (one of Nanjing’s largest logistics distribution centers), said that every time a hot food event like "plastic laver" appeared on the Internet, they would test the relevant commodities in the market. Most of the year is busy with verification.
Wang Ling said that this has indeed caused a great waste of manpower and energy. Even if it has been rumored, they still have to test related products. "Because if we don’t do it (testing), it is ineffective work and poor supervision."
Compared with the waste of these resources caused by inspection and testing institutions, related industries suffer more losses. According to media reports, Jinjiang, the main producing area of Porphyra haitanensis, suffered huge losses after the "Plastic Porphyra" incident. According to conservative estimates, the incident will cause losses of nearly 100 million yuan to the laver industry in Jinjiang and Fujian. A highly educated citizen said that even after reading the rumor report, she still dared not eat laver in the future. "I would rather believe it, but I don’t believe it."
Both vermicelli and plastic can ignite.
After burning, the vermicelli will turn into a black solid substance.
You should be responsible for spreading rumors and rumors.
Why can these rumors convince so many people? Qiu Jianxin, an associate professor at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences of China Southern Airlines, believes that food safety is a matter of great concern to the people. Food is the most important thing for the people. In recent years, food safety problems have been high. Under this background, people are prone to anxiety and panic. However, the herd mentality in the internet age eventually produces fission effect, which makes rumors spread widely.
Zhu Li, a professor of sociology at NTU, believes that the asymmetry of information is the reason for this situation. "Some rumors are partly true, and some are inaccurate in the process of communication.
So, how to avoid the spread of rumors and cause huge social impact? Wang Ling believes that some official inspection agencies should speak out as early as possible, carry out scientific experiments, produce certificates and speak with experimental data.
How can companies that have been hurt by rumors defend their rights? Lawyer Wang Bin, a lawyer of Jiangsu Nuofa Law Firm, said that if the reputation and reputation of the enterprise are damaged, the rumour-monger should bear civil liabilities such as restoring the reputation and apologizing. If the enterprise can prove that it has caused economic losses, it can claim compensation.
In addition, according to the second paragraph of Article 291 of the Criminal Law Amendment (IX), which came into effect on November 1, 2015: "Whoever fabricates a false danger, epidemic situation, disaster situation or police situation and spreads it on the information network or other media, or knowingly and deliberately spreads it on the information network or other media, seriously disrupting social order, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance; If serious consequences are caused, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years.
According to the first paragraph of Article 25 of the Law of People’s Republic of China (PRC) on Public Security Administration Punishment, anyone who spreads rumors, falsely reports dangerous situations, epidemic situations and police situations or intentionally disturbs public order by other means shall be detained for more than five days and less than ten days, and may also be fined less than 500 yuan; If the circumstances are minor, they shall be detained for not more than five days or fined not more than five hundred yuan.
(Comprehensive from Modern Express, Peony Evening News, etc.)