Poisoned Water and Occupational Leukemia


Sometimes you come across an injustice, and you simply can’t keep quiet about it.

I’m not a science-loving person, but this week I learned about benzene. To sum up, the stuff is poisonous. It causes cancer. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services classifies it as a human carcinogen. In 1948 (!!!) the American Petroleum Institute said that “the only absolutely safe concentration for benzene is zero.” Wikipedia that crap.



You can’t really find much benzene in the U.S., maybe a little bit in gasoline and tobacco. No duh, it’s poisonous. But in China? Here it occasionally turns up in the water.

Besides my sudden interest in science, this week also included contaminated water in Lanzhou, Gansu province. Benzene was found in the tap water. Lanzhou is a normal size city in China with about 3.6 million people. So why is there benzene in the water in Lanzhou? The finger is pointed at an oil pipe leak, which I suppose is somewhat explainable, benzene being in petroleum and all.



I’ve never been to Lanzhou, but I currently live in Harbin, Heilongjiang province (city of about 10 million). In 2005, the city turned off the water in Harbin after benzene was found in the Songhua River. Why was there benzene in the water in Harbin? A chemical plant exploded in Jilin, which killed people, evacuated people, poisoned the water in multiple provinces, and even made it to Russia, creating some dire political fallout.



Needless to say, everyone was pretty pissed off about the Jilin explosions, poisoned water and subsequent drama. But I can’t find evidence of anybody asking, why was benzene in the factory in the first place?

Because this post isn’t really about benzene in tap water, though that could be a legit cause for a post. This post is about how benzene is used in factories in China.

The factories that produce the world’s electronics legally use benzene (and other hazardous chemicals).

What bothers me more than poison occasionally turning up in tap water is the fact that the same poison is used to produce smart phones, the same poison is killing Chinese factory workers, the same poison is creating terms like “occupational leukemia.”

Right now I’m sitting in my apartment with water on to boil, realizing that I moved from a country where poison is illegal and people get annoyed if their touch screens don’t respond to a country where people are legally exposed to poison in the workplace in order to meet the global demand for smart phones.

Shut up, America. You don’t know how good you’ve got it.

Chinese young people, desperate for work, are unknowingly exposed to benzene and other carcinogens in factories producing electronics for American companies. (I believe fiery fingers are currently pointed at Apple and Samsung.) People my age and younger are being diagnosed with leukemia. Some are denied compensation and told to keep quiet. Some are driven to suicide. Some are trying to be heard.



“Who Pays the Price? The Human Cost of Electronics” is a 10 minute documentary telling the stories of Chinese teenagers who work in factories. It’s currently on YouTube and UpWorthy. Watch it.

My water’s done. I’m going to go drink it and try to think if there’s anything a foreigner in China can do to outlaw benzene. Thanks, science.

Link to the documentary: http://whopaysfilm-org.cadmiumandcotton.com/
The source of my science education: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzene
Water in Lanzhou: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/11/lanzhou-water-benzene_n_5131728.html and http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/benzene-china-city-water-cuts-supply-partially-23286589
Water in Harbin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Jilin_chemical_plant_explosions
Hazardous chemicals in factories: http://www.thenation.com/blog/178796/tell-apple-protect-its-workers-dangerous-chemicals and http://www.alternet.org/corporate-accountability-and-workplace/toxic-tech-apple-and-other-manufacturers-have-stop-poisoning and http://dceg.cancer.gov/research/what-we-study/environment/benzene-exposed-workers-china

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