Just as Wintek has scored the contract to make touchscreens for the white iPhone 5, Chinese workers at the Taiwanese company’s Suzhou plant have urged Apple to look into the slate of chemical poisonings at the plant which they said could still hurt their health.
The issue is hexyl hydride, a chemical used by Wintek between May 2008 and August 2009 instead of alcohol to speed up production of Apple touchscreens. In an open letter published in a local Chinese newspaper, workers referred to hexyl hydride as “a killer that strikes invisibly.”
Symptoms of hexyl hydride poisoning include sudden numbness in hands, swelling and pain in the feet, tiredness and faintness. Long-term exposure can lead to permanent nerve and eye damage. 137 Wintek workers had been hospitalized because of the poisonings.
Apple’s most recent supplier report mentions the poisonings, and also notes that the use of hexyl hydride has since stopped at Wintek’s facilities, but workers are now arguing that Wintek has not given enough compensation to affected workers, had tried to force out workers who had accepted compensation and had refused to offer assurance that the medical treatment of workers who suffered from hexyl hydride inflicted health relapses that their medical bills would be covered.
The workers are asking for Apple to apologize and intervene with Wintek management on their behalf. Apple declined to comment on the letter, and instead suggested interested parties reference their supplier report to see what they were doing to make sure their contract workers’ health was protected.
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
17 responses to “Poisoned Chinese Workers Ask Apple For Help”
Why is Apple blamed? Just like the Foxconn suicide case, reporters find it easier to blame well-known companies (like Apple) than to blame not-so-well-known companies (such as Foxconn and Wintek) because the more well-known the company is, the more it’ll be read. And the more it’ll be read, the more they’ll earn.
STFU you cocksucker. People have been poisoned and because they made a stink about it to the press they’ve been marked by their employer as undesirable and are being forced out of their jobs. You really are stupid if after all of what you read you only care about how this effects Apple or if you think Apple is blameless in this whole mess. It’s Apple who pays the freaking money to these hell houses to manufacture Apple products therefore they’re very much part of the problem. Stop acting like a lobotomized Apple monkey and for once try using your head for something other then sticking it up your ass.
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STFU you cocksucker. People have been poisoned and because they made a stink about it to the press they’ve been marked by their employer as undesirable and are being forced out of their jobs. You really are stupid if after all of what you read you only care about how this effects Apple or if you think Apple is blameless in this whole mess. It’s Apple who pays the freaking money to these hell houses to manufacture Apple products therefore they’re very much part of the problem. Stop acting like a lobotomized Apple monkey and for once try using your head for something other then sticking it up your ass.