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Stella Lee

Recall of Health Department discs reveals extent of packaging mix-up

More video-compact discs distributed by the Health Department have been found to contain pornographic material instead of oral  hygiene tips.

The eight VCDs were discovered when the department recalled about 3,000 oral health VCDs from pharmacies and a further 12,000 from a sheltered workshop responsible for the packaging following a complaint  this month.

The recalled discs contained the same pornographic content as the first  disc,  while two or three other discs were found to have footage of a boxing match.

It is understood the manufacturer who produced the Love Teeth VCDs for the department  also made other types of discs, including pornography and boxing.

The same pornographic film had earlier been submitted to the Obscene Articles Tribunal for routine classification before the mix-up came to light.

The film  was subsequently rated as Category II, or an indecent article, and the manufacturer was given a licence for its production.

But the packaging of the 12 discs carried a photo of pop star Miriam Yeung Chin-wah  and was labelled a Health Department production. Under the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance, anyone who publishes an indecent or a Class II article without proper packaging and a warning notice is liable to a fine of $400,000 and up  to 12 months in jail on first conviction.

But it is unlikely that police will press charges under the ordinance as the discs were distributed for free and could not be classified as a publication.

A police source said an investigation had not yet uncovered any criminal activity. He believed the error was made in the production process and the pornographic discs had been wrongly labelled as Love Teeth VCDs.

A spokesman for the department said it had received only one complaint and would consider taking follow-up action with the manufacturer.

The  problem came to light after a man complained that his daughter received one of the pornographic discs when she bought toothpaste at a Lok Fu shopping mall pharmacy earlier this month.

He said his family sat down to watch the disc together and they were shocked to find it contained pornography.

The 3,000 VCDs recalled from the pharmacies were among the 29,000 discs sent out by the department earlier this year. The remaining 26,000 discs had already been distributed to the public.



More porn found on dental VCDs