The Mail on Sunday revealed a fortnight ago how at least 13
workers in their late teens and 20s at the massive Foxconn complex employing
230,000 people had contracted leukaemia since 2010. Five had already
died.Foxconn factories make electronic goods for a number of big international
brands, including Apple. Sections of its operation are dedicated to
iPhones and an Apple source said last week the Guanlan plant where Yi and four
of the other five fatal leukaemia cases worked was a dedicated iPhone factory.Families
and a labour rights group supporting them believe chemicals used in the
production process may have caused the leukaemia. But Taiwan-based Foxconn
insists blood cancer rates among workers are lower than the national average.Yi
was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2011, 20 months after he started work at
Foxconn.His mother Cheng Fuying protested outside Foxconn with the families of
other leukaemia victims in 2012, pleading for help with medical bills, but said
they were denied a meeting with factory managers and threatened with arrest
unless they left. After her son’s funeral yesterday, she said: ‘I want
justice for my son.’A fortnight ago, she issued an appeal through the MoS to
Apple CEO Tim Cook, saying: ‘If you have a conscience, Apple should at least make
sure my son’s disease is treated.’An Apple spokesman said yesterday that a
four-month investigation into 22 final assembly facilities found ‘no evidence
of worker health and safety being put at risk’.He added: ‘We care about every
worker in our world-wide supply chain and work tirelessly to ensure their right
to a safe and healthy work space. We were saddened to hear of the Yi family’s
loss and wish to express our deepest condolences.’
In an earlier statement,
Foxconn said the incidence of leukaemia among its employees across China was
‘significantly lower than the reported national annual rate’.