Samsung chip factory worker dies of breast cancer South Korea blames company brings up poor working conditions

As awesome as our gadgets are, truth is they are manufactured in conditions we tend to not think about much. Samsung might have just concluded it employs no underage workers and might have somewhat polished its public image, when a report by Korea’s Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service judged that a worker in one of its plants died of breast cancer.

The woman had worked at the Samsung plant for five years and has had the cancer for three, enought for the Workers Service to agree about a “considerable causal relationship” between the employment and the cancer.

“There was an exposure to organic solvents and radiation. The earlier the exposure is, the more likely the cancer is caused.”

The sad news is the woman was only 36 years old when she passed out, three years after getting the diagnosis.

And the blame lays squarely on Samsung on this case – the manufacturing plant in question is allegedly lacking a radiation detector, and workers had to deal with carcinogens like benzene.

This is just one of many cases undergoing in South Korea, a red flag raised to us to keep on questioning tech companies about the conditions of their workers. And appreciate a little more the technology we are getting.

source: Associated Press via Gizmodo

Samsung chip factory worker dies of breast cancer South Korea blames company brings up poor working conditions