{"id":69293,"date":"2010-05-09T15:36:33","date_gmt":"2010-05-09T22:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=69293"},"modified":"2010-05-09T15:40:46","modified_gmt":"2010-05-09T22:40:46","slug":"chinese-workers-link-sickness-to-n-hexane-and-apple-iphone-screens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/chinese-workers-link-sickness-to-n-hexane-and-apple-iphone-screens\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese Workers Link Sickness to N-Hexane and Apple iPhone Screens"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Workers charged with cleaning the touch screens of iPhones and other Apple products were poisoned by the chemical used, n-hexane. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/world\/2010\/may\/07\/chinese-workers-sickness-hexane-apple-iphone\"><strong>From the Guardian<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\nProlonged over-exposure to n-hexane can cause extensive damage to the peripheral nervous system and ultimately the spinal cord, leading to muscular weakness and atrophy and even paralysis, said Paul Whitehead, a toxicology consultant and member of the UK&#8217;s Royal Society of Chemistry. It can also affect male fertility. Recovery can take a year or more.<\/p>\n<p>The chemical&#8217;s potential risks are well-known in industry, as are safe exposure limits. But the Wintek manager who decided to switch from alcohol to n-hexane for cleaning \u2013 apparently because it dried more quickly \u2013 did not assess the dangers. It was used without proper ventilation.<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;Asked if they knew what products they were working on, three of the affected Wintek employees said team leaders told them they were working for Apple. They instantly recognised pictures of an iPhone and said they were cleaning touch screens, adding that items for other brands were not affected because Apple had isolated its production line. A lawyer acting for 44 of the poisoning victims also said several had named Apple.<\/p>\n<p>Wintek, which does not discuss its clients, said it had replaced the factory&#8217;s general manager.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Workers charged with cleaning the touch screens of iPhones and other Apple products were poisoned by the chemical used, n-hexane. From the Guardian: Prolonged over-exposure to n-hexane can cause extensive damage to the peripheral nervous system and ultimately the spinal cord, leading to muscular weakness and atrophy and even paralysis, said Paul Whitehead, a toxicology [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[116,2,7,6,5,1051],"tags":[6986,5119,148,6920],"class_list":["post-69293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world","category-economy","category-information-revolution","category-sci-tech","category-society","category-top-article","tag-apple","tag-iphone","tag-labor-rights","tag-worker-safety","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.9 (Yoast SEO v23.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Chinese Workers Link Sickness to N-Hexane and Apple iPhone Screens<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/chinese-workers-link-sickness-to-n-hexane-and-apple-iphone-screens\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chinese Workers Link Sickness to N-Hexane and Apple iPhone Screens\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Workers charged with cleaning the touch screens of iPhones and other Apple products were poisoned by the chemical used, n-hexane. From the Guardian: Prolonged over-exposure to n-hexane can cause extensive damage to the peripheral nervous system and ultimately the spinal cord, leading to muscular weakness and atrophy and even paralysis, said Paul Whitehead, a toxicology [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/chinese-workers-link-sickness-to-n-hexane-and-apple-iphone-screens\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"China Digital Times (CDT)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-05-09T22:36:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-05-09T22:40:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"186\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"177\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sophie Beach\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cdt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cdt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sophie Beach\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/chinese-workers-link-sickness-to-n-hexane-and-apple-iphone-screens\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/chinese-workers-link-sickness-to-n-hexane-and-apple-iphone-screens\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sophie Beach\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/7f19e31b674d57a7dc20aab8e908c663\"},\"headline\":\"Chinese Workers Link Sickness to N-Hexane and Apple iPhone Screens\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-05-09T22:36:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-05-09T22:40:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/05\/chinese-workers-link-sickness-to-n-hexane-and-apple-iphone-screens\/\"},\"wordCount\":217,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Apple\",\"iPhone\",\"labor rights\",\"worker safety\"],\"articleSection\":[\"China &amp; 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