HUIZHOU, China - "In a little less than a year, some 600 workers in two factories in southern China have been tainted with cadmium, a heavy metal that can cause severe body pain, nausea, uncontrolled urine flow, memory loss and liver failure. Huizhou, barely an hour's drive from Hong Kong, is a hub of global battery production, and in today's global economy, the nickel-cadmium battery that powers a train set or race car under a Christmas tree in America might have come from a factory there.
One reason Chinese-made products are so inexpensive is that local officials allow factories to overlook occupational safety laws. Factory workers sustain all kinds of injuries, then are cast off like the toys and sneakers they assemble. China has no independent labor unions, and its courts are easily influenced by local Communist Party officials.
In Huizhou, at least 37 workers were hospitalized for observation, some of them complaining of intense pain. "My hair is falling out and my throat hurts," said Wei Xuexiu, a 33-year-old manager at one of the factories, who was on medical leave but not hospitalized. "I often get headaches," said Yao Qunhuai, a fellow worker. "I feel that my memory is fading."
The two factories where they and the other employees tainted with cadmium worked are a division of Gold Peak Industries. Gold Peak batteries sell widely in Asia but have only a tiny share of the estimated $10.7 billion U.S. battery market. Factory workers who spoke to Knight Ridder said the rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries they made were mostly for toys. Similar batteries are used in laptop computers and cameras. Gold Peak declined to specify which brands sold in U.S. stores contain its batteries. A Hong Kong public relations specialist hired by the company, Paul Sham, said GP batteries generally were unbranded and were in toys and other devices.
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