AS CHINA BECOMES the world's workshop, businesses are moving their dirtiest jobs to the mainland in search of the cheapest labour.
Victims of the trend cannot be easily seen in big cities, but they are all over rural China and becoming one of its biggest social problems.
China's high industrial growth rates are accompanied by a huge, hidden cost in human suffering and environmental damage. It is hard to calculate the costs, although some experts reckon it is possible to subtract two percentage points from China's reported annual GDP growth rates.
Official figures claim 25 million people are suffering from work-related diseases, but even this may be a gross underestimate.
Such figures are drawn from workers in state-owned enterprises or other businesses where workers were part of the social welfare system and employees had to meet official standards.
Most of the jobs created since the late 1980s have been in rural or private enterprises where scant regard is paid to health and safety regulations, let alone reporting mishaps to central authorities.
