World Toilet Organisation steps into public urination row
"Public education at points of entry could be useful," said WTO's Singapore founder, Jack Sim Ruihua, following the controversy sparked by an online video of a mainland couple allowing their toddler to go to the toilet in a busy Mong Kok street.
The WTO has now weighed in on the issue of public urination and defecation. No, not the World Trade Organisation, but the World Toilet Organisation.
"Public education at points of entry could be useful," said WTO's Singapore founder, Jack Sim Ruihua, following the controversy sparked by an online video of a mainland couple allowing their toddler to go to the toilet in a busy Mong Kok street.
"Make the message clear that people will die if they keep doing that," he said. "The flies will go to the poop and spread disease."
Sim said Hong Kong should help mainland visitors understand the importance of hygiene, and offered his organisation's help to create a memorable public education campaign.
With initiatives like the "Don't Eat S*** Campaign" and "Potty Parity", the WTO brings humour to a serious and, usually, little discussed public health issue.
Hong Kong, Sim said, was particularly sensitive to the issue of disease after the Sars crisis in 2003 - which killed 299 Hongkongers - and outbreaks of avian flu, among other epidemics.