2. Report on Foreign Shoe Factories That Endanger Women Workers with Hydrocarbon Poisons in Putian, Fujian.

The article reports on a foreign shoe factories that endanger women workers with hydrocarbon poisons in Putian, Fujian. Mention Putian City in Fujian Province and Mazu, goddess of the sea and Shoe City spring immediately to mind. Since 1984, a myriad of foreign-invested enterprises, most of which are shoe factories, have flocked here. These factories numbering about 100 all generally use concentrated volatile adhesive glue containing benzene, toluene and trimethylbenzene. Adhesives containing excessive concentration of the three-bens are extremely dangerous to health. They directly damage blood production and the central nervous system. Long-term contact can cause minor symptoms of dizziness, loss of appetite, and loss of memory and mental capacity and major symptoms of anemia leading to death. Most effects are gradual and may eventually lead to cancer and birth defects. Putian's Sanitation and Anti-Epidemic Station conducted a survey of the concentration levels of the three-bens on the shopfloor of twelve large-scale shoe factories.