After a new factory opened in Jilin, China, citizens flooded local hospitals with complaints about convulsions, breathing difficulties, vomiting and temporary paralysis. They all lived or worked near the new Jilin Connell Chemical Plant. The Chinese government responded in an all too familiar way: declaring the cases to be little more than “mass hysteria” and ordering doctors to stop treating the patients. More than 1,200 of the workers at the new factory has sought medical help.
Among other things, the factory produces aniline, a highly toxic chemical used in the manufacture of polyurethane, rubber, herbicides and dyes.
Chinese officials insist that it is no more than psychogenic illness, or mass hysteria.
A medical team for Beijing insisted that the factory is not a problem and told doctors to encourage patients to simply “get a hold of their emotions.”
China has an atrocious record of lax environmental protections, corruption, and retaliations against environmental activists, here and here and here.
For the full story, click here.
That is so V.A., agent orange, suck it up and be a Marine.
I have seen China refered to as having ‘a frontier mentality’ regarding their business practices in a couple of articles to indicate a lack of regulation, responsibility for worker safety and environmental responsibility. This article does not surprise me nor does the inevitable response of self help:
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/China-Steel-Workers-Kill-Factory-Executive-Employees-Beat-Manager-To-Death-After-News-Of-Staff-Cuts/Article/200907415346782?lpos=World_News_First_World_News_Article_Teaser_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15346782_China_Steel_Workers_Kill_Factory_Executive%3A_Employees_Beat_Manager_To_Death_After_News_Of_Staff_Cuts
Dow Chemical on the Horizon? Secret Agent Orange.
There are many that predict China’s emergence as the world’s dominant super power, especially because they hold so much American debt. I suspect the incompetence of the government to meet their vast citizenry’s basic needs, will bring it and the Chinese economy down. Remember in the late 80′s people thought Japan was going to fulfill that role, only for them to lose a fortune and tank their economy in American real estate scams. The US, I think still holds the distinction in leading the world in fraudulent financial schemes and that will keep us afloat for the near future.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8222732.stm
China using death row inmates as organ banks for profit . . . but they’re trying to stop. Who knew Larry Niven was prescient?