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Apple's Apocalypse?: Institute Says iPhones Come At Expense Of Human Rights

Molly-Marie Canales |
January 31, 2011 | 1:38 a.m. PST

Staff Reporter

Justine Lee contributed to this story. 

Have you ever thought about where your MacbookPro comes from? How about who made your iPhone, iPod or iPad?

If you haven’t, the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE) in China wants you to, desperately.

A report released by the progressive enviromental group last week comes from deep within Apple’s manufacturing chain at companies you’ve probably never heard of such as Foxconn and Wintek.

While IPE doesn’t normally write reports on specific organizations, its work examining pollution from major IT companies’ manufacturing plants began in 2006.

Works such as the China Water Pollution map and investigations of air quality in Japan have also been IPE projects in the past. Apple’s report, however, is the only dedicated to one company particularly.  

Perhaps the most astounding revelation from the 26-page exposé?

Apple faired worse than almost 30 other big name high tech companies such as Samsung and Toshiba when it came to issues of transparency.

They were the only company that failed completely to respond to various Chinese non-profits and environmental group’s queries about worker safety and health as well as environmental pollution, according to the report published on Jan. 20.

Despite Apple’s continued status as the leader in touch-screen technology, IPE argues that the company’s worker appreciation, and general understanding of human rights, is far from superior at their Chinese supplier locations.

But Apple’s refusal to answer questions questions from IPE and other Chinese NGO’s may be explained by some horrific details from the report that would make any company want to run and hide.

. . . . .

In 2008, one of Apple’s key touch screen technology suppliers, Wintek, switched the type of chemical used for cleaning glass and other surfaces in the manufacturing process to a more efficient chemical.

Only one year later, by August 2009, there were at least 49 different cases of employees from the Wintek manufacturing warehouse in Suzhou, China experiencing severe illness.

Employees complained that they felt lethargic, as if their arms and legs didn’t want to move. Some employees became so weak they could hardly lift chopsticks according to IPE’s report.

The ill were experiencing peripheral neuropathy, a condition caused by certain toxins that creates numbness and loss of sensation in the extremities. While the symptoms can be slight, those working at Wintek were exposed to highly toxic amounts of the illness-inducing chemical due to poor ventilation in their work areas and an excess of overtime work at the factory.

Some working at Wintek clocked in more overtime hours, on average 136 per month, than was even allowed by company policy according to IPE. 

Those who became severely ill were debilitated completely, unable to do their job or anything else that would require them to exert energy, let alone stand or lift their arms.

Some sickened employees were granted disability monies, but the amount given was hardly enough to cover the extensive and expensive medical bills racked up.

Extended hospital stays for many of the ill were common; some stayed so long that they ran out of funds to afford any hospital care entirely.

Most experiencing the debilitating side effects, which they believe were caused by toxins at their work, were between 18 and 30 years old. According to IPE, various ill-stricken employees filed a formal complaint with Apple at the start of 2011.

They had not received any reply as of Jan. 20, 2011. Apple's press relations office did not return calls seeking comment for this story.

. . . . .

This isn’t the first bad news to come from Apple’s suppliers in eastern China, however.

Coinciding with the discovery of various illnesses at the Foxconn and Wintek warehouses, the beginning of 2010 brought a spate of suicides at the Foxconn location.

Between January and May, ten young employees took their lives while another two were severely injured in falls—likely attempted suicides—from the same Foxconn building.

Apple’s press releases stated their condolences and urged customers they would not let the lives lost go unnoticed.

Steve Jobs personally replied to some of the emails sent regarding the spate of suicides at Foxconn, which also coincided loosely with the release of the iPad.

MacStories.com posted one user’s back and fourth with Jobs about the suicides. A concerned Mac user urged Apple to “do better.”

Jobs’ response?

“Although every suicide is tragic, Foxconn’s suicide rate is well below the China average. We are all over this.”

But were they? The (somewhat heartless) mention of the suicides at Foxconn being ‘less than average’ seems hardly an assurance that Apple’s snarky CEO was handling the situation.

IPE’s report does nothing to bolster Apple’s progress, either, though no statistics regarding the Foxconn facility were provided after mid-2010. 

Perhaps Jobs’ tone in reply to such an email would shift now that his own poor health has forced him to take temporary leave

The secretive Jobs stepped away from his position once before in 2009 for a kidney transplant, but any details of his current health issues have been kept under lock and key—much like IPE accuses Apple of hiding the truth about their Chinese supplier factories. 

While those Wintek and Foxconn employees who believe they were debilitated by their job wait anxiously for Apple’s reply or assistance, what will we wait for?

The new iPhone to come out?

Info on Jobs health?

Or an answer for the ailing people who made the technology we say we can’t live without?

Reach reporter Molly-Marie Canales here.



 

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