Chinese workers link sickness to n-hexane and Apple iPhone screens

Staff suffer health decline after supplier's use of toxic chemical to clean western gadgets Next month, amid the usual hoopla, Apple is expected to officially unveil its latest gadget: the much-awaited iPhone 4G . But halfway round the globe from the company's California headquarters, a young worker who has spent months in an eastern Chinese hospital wants consumers to look beyond the shiny exterior of such gadgets. "People should know what we do to create these products and what cost we pay," said Bai Bing as she perched on a bed in her ward. She is one of scores of young workers in the city of Suzhou who were poisoned by the chemical n-hexane, which they say was used to clean Apple components including iPhone touch screens. Wu Mei – who, like the others, asked the Guardian to use her nickname – recalled her fear as her health suddenly deteriorated last spring. At first, she thought she was simply tired from the long working hours at Wintek, a Taiwan-owned electronics giant supplying several well-known brands. She was weaker than before and noticed she could not walk so fast. "Then it became more and more serious. I found it very hard to go upstairs and if I squatted down I didn't have the strength to get up. Later my hands became numb and I lost my balance – I would fall over if someone touched me," she said. By summer, she was admitted to hospital, where doctors struggled to diagnose the cause. "I was terrified. I feared I might be paralysed and spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair," she said. Because she was using n-hexane directly, she was one of the first and worst affected. But more and more workers from the same room were suffering headaches, dizziness and weakness, and pains in their limbs. An occupational diseases hospital which saw several victims diagnosed the problem in August and Wintek stopped using the chemical.

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Chinese workers link sickness to n-hexane and Apple iPhone screens