We know that like all big companies and businesses in the first world, Apple also outsources production to Asian countries to cut costs and avoid high taxes. China is the biggest market for cheap labour in Asia and it’s providing workforce to practically all big gadget makers in the world, including Apple.
Now in a latest health based scandal reported by ABC News Australia, factory workers in Southern China are being treated for poisoning from vapours they inhaled while working on Apple’s famous touch screens for different devices.
Apparently, the chemical being used in screen manufacturing is called n-hexane which increases efficiency and functions but it is proving highly toxic and poisonous for the workers handling it during production.
The workers reported becoming dizzy and numb after inhaling the chemical’s vapours and eventually they could not walk any more. A female worker told ABC:
At first the symptoms were pretty obvious. My hands were numb. I could hardly walk or run.
“I think they knew it was poisonous to human bodies but if they had used another chemical our output would not have increased. By using n-hexane, it was much more efficient”. Another woman said.”
The women have now been in hospital for more than half a year.
“I am back at work but my symptoms are still with me. My legs still hurt. This will accompany me for the rest of my life. It’s very painful.” Reported one male worker to ABC.
The workers’ boss, Zhong Jianxiang, was not available to be interviewed.
Apart from the screens, workers have also complained of similar symptoms from breathing in chemicals used in shining the silver parts of Apple products—like the Apple logo on iPhones—and also those used to prepare Apple’s displays.
The only statement Apple has offered so far is that it has tightened its workplace safety requirements at all suppliers.
[via 9To5Mac]
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