China's "market economics in command": Footwear workers' health in jeopardy

This study of occupational safety and health (OSH) problems in the footwear industry in China, the world's largest shoemaker, is based on four years o f research in China supplemented by research in Taiwan, Australia, and the United States. With the advent of the economic reforms of the early 1980s, the Chinese state is being driven by an economic imperative under which the profit motive overrides other concerns, causing a deterioration in OSH con ditions. Footwear workers are being exposed to high levels of benzene, tolu ene, and other toxic solvents contained in the adhesives used in the shoe-m aking process. Many workers have been afflicted with aplastic anemia, leuke mia, and other health problems. Most of China's current permissible exposur e limits to toxins are either outdated or underenforced. As a result, the C hinese state's protection of footwear workers' health is inadequate. The ar ticle aims to draw the attention of the international OSH community to the importance of setting specific exposure standards for the footwear industry worldwide.