Chinese workers dying for our toys

[Richard D]

The Salt Lake Tribune has a special series written by a reporter who spent a year in China investigating the conditions in 25 factories. While Americans are running around concerned about the long-term effects of lead in toys, real Chinese workers are dying in deplorable working conditions as they put together our cheap gas grills and La-Z-Boy recliners so we can enjoy them at everyday low prices.

One is dying from silicosis from making Char-Broil gas stoves. One lost three fingers making goods for Restoration Hardware. One is suffering from a precursor to leukemia after painting and varnishing furniture bound for America. Others have cadmium poisoning after making batteries for Eveready and Energizer. In all cases, not even basic safety protocols or safety devices were observed. It was simply a matter of what was cheapest and most expedient.
(from The Consumerist blog: http://consumerist.com/consumer/chinese-poison-train/made-in-china-made-in-a-death-trap-314381.php)



Beginning of article from the Salt Lake Tribune:

GUANGZHOU, China -- The patients arrive every day in Chinese hospitals with disabling and fatal diseases, acquired while making products for America.

On the sixth floor of the Guangzhou Occupational Disease and Prevention Hospital, Wei Chaihua, 44, sits on his iron-rail bed, tethered to an oxygen tank. He is dying of the lung disease silicosis, a result of making Char-Broil gas stoves sold in Utah and throughout the U.S.

Down the hall, He Yuyun, 36, who for years brushed America's furniture with paint containing benzene and other solvents, receives treatment for myelodysplastic anemia, a precursor to leukemia.

In another room rests Xiang Zhiqing, 39, her hair falling out and her kidneys beginning to fail from prolonged exposure to cadmium that she placed in batteries sent to the U.S.

"Do people in your country handle cadmium while they make batteries?" Xiang asks. "Do they also die from this?"

http://extras.sltrib.com/china/

[glowing]

1. This is what I wonder as well.. If I don't want my child even near a lead

toy or myself for that matter, I wonder what happened to the poor Chinese person who assembled a lot more than 1. I've thought that myself.. hmm wonder how many will die from this... But then again, with a billion plus population and a rule about one child.. I guess their govt sees them like ours does us, expendable.

[Nomad559]

2. Chinese Workers Also Make

The iPhone.

Apple faces potential environmental lawsuit
http://www.macworld.com/news/2007/10/15/ceh/index.php

Greenpeace Targets Apple’s iPhone
http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2007/10/15/greenpeace-targets-apples-iphone/#more-38

[Lasher]

3. That's the way it works in a worldwide 'free' market

Work goes to the lowest bidders.

[Beelzebud]

4. We're really on a roll lately. We've brought back torture and slavery!

[JHB]

5. They're not dying "for our toys"...

...they're dying because of unsafe working conditions because neither their employers nor their government are held accountable.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

6. they are not dying 'for our toys'

they are dying for their overlords who are just as greedy for $$$ as ours...

sP

[Hekate]

7. That's China, & the US government should have told our overseas investors.That's China

But no, let our factory-investors go chasing the almighty dollar in countries with few human rights much less workers' rights -- and keep trumpeting the wonderland opening up because of capitalism.

I had to return three things to Costco a few years ago because they gave off such toxic fumes I couldn't live with them: a child's sandbox shaped like a boat (some assembly required, the box just about gassed me in my car), a really lovely men's valet for Mr. H to toss his coins, glasses, and phone in at night), and a small coffee pot. The one common denominator was they were all made in China. Nicely made, and really toxic.

Historically, Chinese society and government have not cared much for the individual, that being up to their families. That's pretty much why Westerners for centuries used to say "Life is cheap in China." It sounds like a canard, but it has a basis in fact.

It is to our great shame that our government encourages rampant overseas manufacturing without insisting on basic workers' protections. We are supposed to be better than that.

Hekate

[dysfunctional press]

8. won't future generations in china tend to hold a grudge over this kind of stuff?

:shrug: