If you’re one of the many people world-wide who spend their lives with an iPhone attached at the hip, ear, hand, pocket, purse, or Bluetooth, then perhaps this report will make you rethink your technological preferences.
The next time you purchase an upgraded iPhone (since Apple is averaging a new one every year), keep in mind you’re not just promoting the delicious brand. Truth be told, the manufacturer of the iPhone isn’t located in America, but in mainland China nonetheless. The Taiwanese company, Foxconn, has been reported to have abusive labor practices that are said to have violated the already lax Chinese environmental laws.
In May, Chinese environmental groups released a report to the public tracking the connection between heavy metal poisoning and IT production in the mainland. The metal components used to produce mobile phone batteries and printed circuit boards are both lead and cadmium.
More than four thousand Chinese people, unfortunately mostly children, were discovered to have unsafe levels of lead in their blood this past year.
A coincidence you ask? We don’t think so. Word on the street is that many of these powerhouse companies that enter China to manufacture their products usually shun environmental practices, and also have been known to build secret pipes that will pump untreated water directly to waterways. Furthermore, when the Chinese environmental groups asked these companies to provide more information about their Asian supply chains, Apple (along with eight other companies) has not responded, nearly fifty days later.
Is Steve Jobs squirming in his plush leather office chair yet? Not quite. Perhaps this will be a wake up call to Apple to keep a watchful eye over the origins of its product in order to retain its clean, fresh image it so imminently boasts today. If all else fails, maybe Mr. Gates can help out his rival to finance a few environmentalist groups over a couple thousand miles away. Have YOU helped save the world today?
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