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Foxconn denies benzene linked to leukemia

Xinhua, September 18, 2014

• A pedestrian walks past a Foxconn factory. [File photo]

  Foxconn Electronics, a Taiwan-funded Apple supplier, has denied that benzene exposure led to several leukemia cases among employees at its plant in south China’s Shenzhen City.

  In a statement to Xinhua news agency, the company said employees who suffered leukemia had different jobs and had no direct contact with benzene in their work, citing a preliminary investigation.

  Earlier this week, Britain’s Daily Mail reported that at least 13 Foxconn workers in Shenzhen had been diagnosed with leukemia and five had died.

  An investigation by Xinhua found that nine employees in Foxconn’s Shenzhen factories had been diagnosed with the disease since 2010.

  Seven were confirmed with leukemia between August 2010 and December 2011, and five of them had died.

  One 24-year-old employee, surnamed Yi, is being treated at the Shenzhen No. 2 People’s Hospital for leukemia. He started work at Foxconn in March 2010 and was diagnosed with leukemia in December 2011.

  He first worked in a department for cleaning aluminous materials for about a month and was then transferred to other departments, his mother said.

  "No one in our family has ever had cancer before. When we heard the news, I could not accept the fact," she said.

  Yi's contract with Foxconn expired in October 2013. Foxconn offered Yi compensation of 39,000 yuan (US$6,351), or around a year’s salary and ended his contract.

  Another employee, surnamed Feng, started work at the plant in February 2011 and was diagnosed with leukemia four months later. He died last November.

  Feng’s work was encasement and distribution of materials. The family owes 400,000 yuan because of Feng’s medical treatment, according to his parents. Feng received almost 90,000 yuan from Foxconn during his time in hospital.

  During his treatment, Feng suspected his disease was related to his work and attempted to speak to executives, but this was refused, his parents said.

  A written response to a petition in 2012 from the Shenzhen Health and Family Planning Commission showed the seven employees had no direct contact with benzene.

  Possible toxic materials they were in contact with included lead and sulfuric acid.

  On-the-spot investigations by professionals are needed to decide whether the leukemia is job-related, said Zhuo Jiacai, a doctor at the Shenzhen hospital.

  It is difficult to confirm the relation between sickness and working environment, said Wei Qian, a labor law researcher at Peking University.

  Patients have difficulties in providing evidence if they turn to lawsuits, Wei said, adding that Foxconn should bear social responsibility and provide more care and aid to sick employees.

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