The three big mysteries of the Foxconn leukemia: whether the incidence is really low

"Shenzhen Foxconn 4 years 13 employees suffering from leukemia, 5 people have died." When the company just released the new year, its largest mobile phone generation factory Such a news, triggering the public discussion. Foxconn Science and Technology Group issued a statement 15th, said the report is untrue, and said "to retain the right to further legal proceedings." However, there are still a number of mysteries to be solved around this incident.

Mystery 1 Whether the incidence is really low

At least 13 young workers at Foxconn's Shenzhen plant have been diagnosed with leukemia since 2010, with 5 of them dead, the Daily Mail reported yesterday.

Foxconn's statement blamed the report as "untrue", saying that the time period of the reported employees was between 2008 and 2013, not a "centralized mass outbreak", and that the "average annual incidence of leukemia in Shenzhen" was much lower than the national average.

The Foxconn statement did not mention the exact number of leukemia workers in the Shenzhen campus. Guangzhou Leukemia aid organization personage Lo Zhiyong and so on industry expert thinks, the Foxconn did not disclose the specific sickness employee data and so on comprehensive information, only has reported the low incidence rate with the media report 13 staff this figure, does not have the very strong persuasive power.

Reporter 16th visit found in Foxconn Group Shenzhen Guanlan Industrial Park, Fu Tai Wah Industry (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., at least 7 employees have been diagnosed with leukemia, and its diagnosis time is concentrated between August 2010 and December 2011. In addition, two employees, who worked at Foxconn's Longhua plant in Shenzhen and Yantai, Shandong Province, and an employee who was recuperating in Jiangxi, told reporters that they had been diagnosed with leukemia during work at Foxconn. Of the 10 employees, at least 5 are dead.

According to a 1992 National epidemiological survey, the incidence of leukemia in China is 2.76/100,000. The medical profession generally believes that this figure has increased in recent years. Chao Jiacai, director of hematology at Shenzhen's second People's hospital, said the incidence of leukemia in recent years was about 3 to 4 patients per 100,000 persons.

Shenzhen Official department data show that the 7 employees diagnosed during the period, Fu Tai Hua Company in the Guanlan campus employs about 101,000 people. Lo Zhiyong and other industry experts believe that, only in the Guanlan Park, even with the mobility of personnel factors, more than a year, 101,000 of 7 people diagnosed with leukemia, the incidence is difficult to call "far less than the national average ratio."

Doubt 2 Workplace non-toxic

Leukaemia commonly known as "leukaemia". At present, the etiology of medicine is not yet fully understood, but the chemical benzene is widely regarded as one of the important culprits.

Foxconn's statement said in response to questions about the cause of workers ' exposure to benzene cleaners, the employees ' positions were not common and they had no "direct experience" with benzene in their work. Foxconn, Taiwan's Hon Hai Group, also told the media that it had banned the purchase and use of chemicals such as benzene or hexane many years ago, and that the working environment "complies with occupational health and safety management systems and social responsibility standards".

There is official circumstantial evidence for "no direct contact", according to a document issued by the Shenzhen Health and population family Planning Commission in July 2012, the 7 employees of the company were free from benzene and occupational exposure to ionizing radiation. According to the paper, the Monitoring report commissioned by Fu Tai Wah showed that the concentrations of toxic and harmful factors in the patient's location (intensity) were in line with national health standards.

In this respect, some of the sick employees and family members questioned: commissioned by the enterprise testing, neutrality and lack of impartiality. In fact, toxic substances are often found in Foxconn factories.

Chogui, a sick employee from Gansu province, said just into the Foxconn is to do printing paste steel net, the factory did not require wearing gloves, "the use of detergent packaging is written on the ' hexane C9 ' or ' ethane C9 ', two word difference is too small, remember not clear." Then he changed the workshop, the workshop was not closed when the decoration, "The paint is very big, soon I have leukemia." Hunan patients long is undergoing chemotherapy, his mother said, long just entered Foxconn in the cleaning of aluminum department, the use of potions "have a great taste."

In recent years, some academics and labor organizations have criticized the working environment of some of Foxconn's plants. The Shenzhen municipal Planning and Health planning document also points out the occupational hazards in the rich Thai, including benzene series, as well as N-heptane, X-ray and dust, noise, laser and other substances.

Shenzhen, director of hematology at the second People's Hospital, Chao Jiacai said that radiation pollution, including x-rays, is a common cause of leukemia, like benzene and other harmful chemicals. and Heptane, although different from hexane, but also has a chronic impact on the human body: long-term contact can cause Neurasthenia syndrome, a small number of mildly neutral white cells, indigestion.

Puzzle 3 Whether the employee assistance is in place

In response to the question of how to deal with sick employees, Foxconn said it avoided the problem of dismissing the sick employee, saying that the group, in addition to medical insurance, has been carrying out additional humanitarian assistance through the captive Fund medical Reimbursement and labor union hardship relief.

China's labor law and the "Guangdong Province wage Payment regulations," and other laws and regulations, after giving a certain period of medical period, for the still can not engage in the original work can not be engaged in the work of the employer to arrange for other works of the sick laborer, the employing unit may terminate the labor contract. However, during the medical period, the employer shall pay sickness leave wages.

Chogui told reporters that the Foxconn Labor union issued two grants a total of 40,000 yuan, so he does not think Foxconn to the sick employees completely "regardless of the question." But to his anger, Foxconn stopped paying his wages from a confirmed illness until the contract was released, and when he applied to Taiwan's headquarters for the so-called "difficult to rescue" serious medical Relief Fund, the Shenzhen Foxconn Human Resources department refused to provide proof of employment, leading to an inability to apply.

Another sick employee from Zhengning, Gansu, Feng Honggang, died in November 2013. His father said that, in addition to the staff donation of 21,000 yuan, did not receive other assistance and financial support from the Foxconn factory, "went to Foxconn two times, the leader said no matter, and the factory has nothing to do."

Long's mother also said that in addition to the termination of the labor contract when the economic compensation and staff donations, not from the factory to get other money.

These sick employees and their families also reflected the difficulty of obtaining the support of Foxconn in the collection of certification materials for occupational disease identification and compensation.

Reporters through different ways to contact the Foxconn group related to the responsible person, did not receive a response, a staff member of its media office in the afternoon of 17th, said that the "leukemia incident", in addition to the above-mentioned Foxconn statement, no longer alone to receive media interviews, if there is further explanation, will again be published in public