Cheap Nickel-Cadmium Battery Manufacturing Costs Chinese Lives

On January 15, 2008 The Wall Street Journal reported on how China’s labor force is suffering gravely from manufacturing cadmium batteries for Chinese-made toys. Millions of American children received these toys last Christmas.

Although safe to use, cadmium batteries are dangerous to make. The people who actually handle them and breathe the red cadmium dust are slowly becoming terminally ill.

But what can we say? The batteries are cheap. Their mark-down saves, according to The Wall Street Journal, $1.50 per average toy, compared to those with pricier batteries.

A worker in Southern China, Ms. Wang Fengping, has worked for years in plant where cadmium batteries are made for Mattel, Inc., Toys “R” Us and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. The Wall Street Journal reported that ‘hundreds of Ms. Wang’s colleagues also regularly inhale the toxic red cadmium dust that filled the air in the plant.’ It goes on to say that about 400 other workers at the same place Ms. Wang worked have been found to have unsafe levels of cadmium in their systems. She and these workers were employed by Hong Kong-based GP Batteries International Ltd.

Cadmium is a toxic metal such as mercury and lead. They can cause kidney failure, lung cancer and bone disease. Currently Ms. Wang is often too weak to walk and her kidneys have failed. Her doctors have identified her problems to be most likely caused by the cadmium poisoning.

The manufacturing of Nickel-Cadmium or NiCD batteries demonstrate this new method of searching for cheaper production which usually means migrating labor to countries with fewer safety standards and protections.

If you are interested in reading more on this Wall Street Journal Report please check this out:
Toxic Factories Take Toll On China’s Labor Force - By Jane Spencer and Juliet Ye, January 15, 2008; Page A1

The new Nickel Metal-Hydride batteries (NiMH) are safer to make and do not have the heavy metals of older technology. They are not designed to power the same types of devices as are nickel-cadmium batteries, however, we are seeing newer technology make battery manufacturing safer. Perhaps we need to switch to Lithium-ion batteries and forget about Nickel-Cadmium (NiCD) batteries all together. It’s happening already. Power drills and many other devices needing torque in their operation are now being powered by Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries.

We want to thank Ms. Spencer and Ms. Ye for their report. It helps to know what our cheap batteries really cost.

We still have needs for Nickel-Cadmium batteries but there is great change happening literally monthly. We can do better and we will.

POWER YOUR ROAD!