Among Chinese, Fear and Prejudice About Hepatitis B

[Guest guest]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/12/AR2007021201366.\

html

Among Chinese, Fear and Prejudice About Hepatitis B

Job Discrimination Is Widespread In Land With 120 Million rs

By Maureen Fan

Washington Post Foreign Service

Tuesday, February 13, 2007; Page A15

WUJIANG, China -- Liao, a 28-year-old engineer, worked at a large

electronics company in this coastal province town, two hours west of

Shanghai. He helped decide where to place large production machines on the

factory floor, and how many workers were needed on which assembly lines.

Last year, he won an award for good performance.

But it wasn't enough to save his job. In December, after a compulsory

company physical revealed he was a carrier of the hepatitis B virus, Liao

was told he was unfit for the job. He said a human resources manager told

him: " You're a hepatitis B carrier. You're not fit for collective life, for

working in a factory with colleagues. "

Liao, who declined to give his full name for fear of being rejected by other

potential employers, was astonished. " I thought it was impossible. . . . I

didn't think I would lose my job, " he said.

In China, however, discrimination against people who carry the hepatitis B

virus is not only possible but widespread. Even though at least 10 percent

of the Chinese population carries the virus, which can attack the liver and

cause lifelong infection, cirrhosis or liver cancer, there is a failure

among many to understand that it cannot spread through casual contact.

Experts say the barriers faced by people with the virus fit into a larger

context of job discrimination in China, where labor laws are not enforced or

are contradictory. Institutions such as universities and the Foreign

Ministry are said to discriminate against applicants based on height -- they

prefer taller candidates -- while private employers routinely push

middle-age women to retire early in favor of younger, cheaper employees, for

example.

A 13-year-old labor law prohibits discrimination on the basis of ethnicity,

race, sex or religious beliefs, but the regulation is too vague to be of

use, experts say. In a survey of more than 3,000 people in 10 cities,

results of which were published last month by the Beijing Morning Post, 85

percent of respondents said they believed there was discrimination in the

workplace.

In the case of hepatitis B, experts say, discrimination is on the increase,

partly because the dangers of the virus have been exaggerated by medical

testing companies touting services and advertisers pushing fake cures. Such

ploys gain attention in China, where 120 million carry the hepatitis B

virus.

The virus is transmitted in body fluids, primarily blood and semen, but

occasionally saliva as well. About 90 percent of people infected at birth,

and about 10 percent infected later, become carriers, able to infect others

for years. Many Chinese were infected by needles that were reused during

mass vaccination programs for tuberculosis, tetanus and encephalitis from

the 1970s to the 1990s.

Although many carriers have no symptoms, at least one-quarter will

ultimately suffer some complication from the infection.

" It's not a lack of knowledge; it's knowing the wrong things, " Lu Jun, the

moderator of an online forum for the rights of hepatitis B carriers, said of

common misunderstandings related the virus. " Advertisers want people to know

the wrong things about the disease, so they can drum up more business. "

Discrimination also extends to academia. University students who carry the

virus often say they are forced to live in segregated dormitories. Last

fall, 19 new students who were carriers were expelled by state-run schools

in Urumqi, the capital of western Xinjiang province. Several sued the city,

which then banned the student-led group that publicized the case.

In 2005, China lifted a ban that prohibited hepatitis B carriers from

becoming civil servants, but the government still bars them from the food

industry and is considering barring them from working in beauty parlors,

public bathrooms and hotels, experts said.

If the government turns these people down, the public will turn against

them, too. Since the law already discriminates, nobody will violate the law

to hire these people, " Lu said.

In Wujiang, Lu said, 22 employees were fired from companies or divisions

under Cal-Comp Electronics, which is based in Thailand and which produces

products for Hewlett-Packard, among other companies.

After Liao was given the bad news by his supervisor, he said he immediately

went to a hospital for a second round of tests. A doctor confirmed that Liao

was a carrier but told him that his liver and DNA were both normal and that

his condition ought not to affect his job.

" He said the biggest difference between carriers and the sick is whether

your liver is normal, and since mine is normal it will not affect my work, "

Liao said. " He advised me to be tested every three to six months and told me

not to share a toothbrush or a razor with others. "

He added, " I thought if I show this to the company, they will not ask me to

leave. "

He brought the results to the human resources manager, and she passed them

to the company doctor. Later, the doctor told Liao, " Personally, I don't

think this will affect your job, but I'm not the one who makes the

decision. "

The day after that conversation, Liao said, an e-mail from the doctors,

copied to the head of human resources, said the company would rely on the

result of its own blood test, which Liao has never seen. He was offered $996

-- three months' salary -- and asked to fill out a form that said he was

" unfit for the position. "

The company denies it has discriminated against Liao or any of the other

employees who contend they were fired, insisting they left voluntarily or

were given an option to rest at home for three months and return after they

recovered.

In people acutely infected with hepatitis B, the virus is usually cleared in

that amount of time. However, among those who become chronic carriers, no

amount of recuperation will rid them of the virus.

" China's law says that laborers have equal rights of jobs, and our company

has already fully considered the equal opportunities of employees. We didn't

discriminate against them, " said Wu Qunsheng, vice manager of the company.

" We need to take into consideration the health of the 6,000 employees in the

company, and we already offered well-meaning suggestions to them. We ask

them to go rest at home, and if they recover, they can come back, " Wu said.

" Our explanation at that time was that among our 6,000 employees, some are

infectious, so they need to rest at home, and we can keep their positions

for them. But some were not willing to take our suggestion -- it was their

idea to leave. "

Wu said they found 1,268 employees who had not yet received the hepatitis B

antibody, and immediately asked the local epidemic prevention clinic to

vaccinate them.

Asked how the dismissed employees could be expected to return to work, Wu

said, " As long as they can prove that they are not infectious. " Asked how a

rest period would be helpful if carriers cannot " recover " in three months,

Wu replied, " At that time, we didn't consider everything in details. "

The Beijing office of HP said in a statement: " HP has been made aware of

these allegations against one of our suppliers and is in the process of

finding out more information. "

A supervisor in charge of quality control at Cal-Comp said she was also

dismissed because she carries the hepatitis B virus.

" I asked several times, 'Are you firing me because I'm a carrier?' " said

the employee, Li, who spoke on condition that her full name not be used.

" The human resources manager didn't admit it directly. First she said, 'I

don't think you are suitable for collective life.' I did have a dorm room

there, but at most stayed there once a week. The main reason is because of

eating together -- there's a public cafeteria, they share the dishes. It's

enough to worry the company. "

Li said she was offered more money than her colleague Liao because she

threatened to take the story to the news media. She received $2,308, which

she said was for salary and medical compensation, but what she really wants

is her job back.

Forced to leave the company in January, Li now makes $128 a month selling

clothes, half of what she used to earn. " The company is not giving us an

equal opportunity. They are treating my colleagues and us hepatitis B

carriers differently, and that's illegal and unfair, " she said. " They are

depriving me of an opportunity to develop my skills and to work. "

Researcher Li Jie in Wujiang and staff writer Brown in Washington

contributed to this report.

_________________________________________________________________

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[Guest guest]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/12/AR2007021201366.\

html

Among Chinese, Fear and Prejudice About Hepatitis B

Job Discrimination Is Widespread In Land With 120 Million rs

By Maureen Fan

Washington Post Foreign Service

Tuesday, February 13, 2007; Page A15

WUJIANG, China -- Liao, a 28-year-old engineer, worked at a large

electronics company in this coastal province town, two hours west of

Shanghai. He helped decide where to place large production machines on the

factory floor, and how many workers were needed on which assembly lines.

Last year, he won an award for good performance.

But it wasn't enough to save his job. In December, after a compulsory

company physical revealed he was a carrier of the hepatitis B virus, Liao

was told he was unfit for the job. He said a human resources manager told

him: " You're a hepatitis B carrier. You're not fit for collective life, for

working in a factory with colleagues. "

Liao, who declined to give his full name for fear of being rejected by other

potential employers, was astonished. " I thought it was impossible. . . . I

didn't think I would lose my job, " he said.

In China, however, discrimination against people who carry the hepatitis B

virus is not only possible but widespread. Even though at least 10 percent

of the Chinese population carries the virus, which can attack the liver and

cause lifelong infection, cirrhosis or liver cancer, there is a failure

among many to understand that it cannot spread through casual contact.

Experts say the barriers faced by people with the virus fit into a larger

context of job discrimination in China, where labor laws are not enforced or

are contradictory. Institutions such as universities and the Foreign

Ministry are said to discriminate against applicants based on height -- they

prefer taller candidates -- while private employers routinely push

middle-age women to retire early in favor of younger, cheaper employees, for

example.

A 13-year-old labor law prohibits discrimination on the basis of ethnicity,

race, sex or religious beliefs, but the regulation is too vague to be of

use, experts say. In a survey of more than 3,000 people in 10 cities,

results of which were published last month by the Beijing Morning Post, 85

percent of respondents said they believed there was discrimination in the

workplace.

In the case of hepatitis B, experts say, discrimination is on the increase,

partly because the dangers of the virus have been exaggerated by medical

testing companies touting services and advertisers pushing fake cures. Such

ploys gain attention in China, where 120 million carry the hepatitis B

virus.

The virus is transmitted in body fluids, primarily blood and semen, but

occasionally saliva as well. About 90 percent of people infected at birth,

and about 10 percent infected later, become carriers, able to infect others

for years. Many Chinese were infected by needles that were reused during

mass vaccination programs for tuberculosis, tetanus and encephalitis from

the 1970s to the 1990s.

Although many carriers have no symptoms, at least one-quarter will

ultimately suffer some complication from the infection.

" It's not a lack of knowledge; it's knowing the wrong things, " Lu Jun, the

moderator of an online forum for the rights of hepatitis B carriers, said of

common misunderstandings related the virus. " Advertisers want people to know

the wrong things about the disease, so they can drum up more business. "

Discrimination also extends to academia. University students who carry the

virus often say they are forced to live in segregated dormitories. Last

fall, 19 new students who were carriers were expelled by state-run schools

in Urumqi, the capital of western Xinjiang province. Several sued the city,

which then banned the student-led group that publicized the case.

In 2005, China lifted a ban that prohibited hepatitis B carriers from

becoming civil servants, but the government still bars them from the food

industry and is considering barring them from working in beauty parlors,

public bathrooms and hotels, experts said.

If the government turns these people down, the public will turn against

them, too. Since the law already discriminates, nobody will violate the law

to hire these people, " Lu said.

In Wujiang, Lu said, 22 employees were fired from companies or divisions

under Cal-Comp Electronics, which is based in Thailand and which produces

products for Hewlett-Packard, among other companies.

After Liao was given the bad news by his supervisor, he said he immediately

went to a hospital for a second round of tests. A doctor confirmed that Liao

was a carrier but told him that his liver and DNA were both normal and that

his condition ought not to affect his job.

" He said the biggest difference between carriers and the sick is whether

your liver is normal, and since mine is normal it will not affect my work, "

Liao said. " He advised me to be tested every three to six months and told me

not to share a toothbrush or a razor with others. "

He added, " I thought if I show this to the company, they will not ask me to

leave. "

He brought the results to the human resources manager, and she passed them

to the company doctor. Later, the doctor told Liao, " Personally, I don't

think this will affect your job, but I'm not the one who makes the

decision. "

The day after that conversation, Liao said, an e-mail from the doctors,

copied to the head of human resources, said the company would rely on the

result of its own blood test, which Liao has never seen. He was offered $996

-- three months' salary -- and asked to fill out a form that said he was

" unfit for the position. "

The company denies it has discriminated against Liao or any of the other

employees who contend they were fired, insisting they left voluntarily or

were given an option to rest at home for three months and return after they

recovered.

In people acutely infected with hepatitis B, the virus is usually cleared in

that amount of time. However, among those who become chronic carriers, no

amount of recuperation will rid them of the virus.

" China's law says that laborers have equal rights of jobs, and our company

has already fully considered the equal opportunities of employees. We didn't

discriminate against them, " said Wu Qunsheng, vice manager of the company.

" We need to take into consideration the health of the 6,000 employees in the

company, and we already offered well-meaning suggestions to them. We ask

them to go rest at home, and if they recover, they can come back, " Wu said.

" Our explanation at that time was that among our 6,000 employees, some are

infectious, so they need to rest at home, and we can keep their positions

for them. But some were not willing to take our suggestion -- it was their

idea to leave. "

Wu said they found 1,268 employees who had not yet received the hepatitis B

antibody, and immediately asked the local epidemic prevention clinic to

vaccinate them.

Asked how the dismissed employees could be expected to return to work, Wu

said, " As long as they can prove that they are not infectious. " Asked how a

rest period would be helpful if carriers cannot " recover " in three months,

Wu replied, " At that time, we didn't consider everything in details. "

The Beijing office of HP said in a statement: " HP has been made aware of

these allegations against one of our suppliers and is in the process of

finding out more information. "

A supervisor in charge of quality control at Cal-Comp said she was also

dismissed because she carries the hepatitis B virus.

" I asked several times, 'Are you firing me because I'm a carrier?' " said

the employee, Li, who spoke on condition that her full name not be used.

" The human resources manager didn't admit it directly. First she said, 'I

don't think you are suitable for collective life.' I did have a dorm room

there, but at most stayed there once a week. The main reason is because of

eating together -- there's a public cafeteria, they share the dishes. It's

enough to worry the company. "

Li said she was offered more money than her colleague Liao because she

threatened to take the story to the news media. She received $2,308, which

she said was for salary and medical compensation, but what she really wants

is her job back.

Forced to leave the company in January, Li now makes $128 a month selling

clothes, half of what she used to earn. " The company is not giving us an

equal opportunity. They are treating my colleagues and us hepatitis B

carriers differently, and that's illegal and unfair, " she said. " They are

depriving me of an opportunity to develop my skills and to work. "

Researcher Li Jie in Wujiang and staff writer Brown in Washington

contributed to this report.

_________________________________________________________________

Mortgage rates as low as 4.625% - Refinance $150,000 loan for $579 a month.

Intro*Terms

https://www2.nextag.com/goto.jsp?product=100000035 & url=%2fst.jsp & tm=y & search=mor\

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