Foxconn India closes factory as 250 workers fall ill

Foxconn has been forced to shut down a factory in India after 250 workers were hospitalised after what appears to have been an overzealous bout of pesticide spraying.

According to AFP the firm - famous for building the iPhone as well as a myriad of other gadgets - suspended operations at its Chennai plant yesterday after the workers fell ill.

AFP reports that Foxconn said the workers, who make mobile phone components, had experienced "sensations of giddiness and nausea" which may have been caused by "routine spraying of pesticide".

The spraying itself appears to have taken place last Friday.

A total of 250 workers apparently fell ill - half the factory's complement. Of those, 28 are still in hospital under observation.

Any mass outbreak of illness is a worry for workers and their employers. However, Taiwan-based Foxconn is under the microscope more than most. A rash of worker suicides at its Shenzhen factory, where the iPhone is made, has put the spotlight on how it treats its employees.

It jacked up wages for workers at the factory, but insisted the deaths were not work-related. The Chinese government agreed with Foxconn's take on things, and so did Apple. ®