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/