The Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE) along with other environmental groups in China has called out Apple for poor environmental and safety standards in its Chinese supply chain, agencies report.
IPE and environmental groups have published a report pointing out the supposed malpractice in Apple’s supply chain which according to the report ended up poisoning and disabling some workers and polluting communities.
In the report, Apple has been placed at the bottom of a list of 29 technology manufacturers which also criticizes Nokia, Sony, Ericsson and LG for their poor practices. On the contrary, the report commends Hewlett-Packard, Vodafone, Samsung, Toshiba, Sharp, Hitachi, BT and Alcatel-Lucent for taking measures to improve conditions or supervision of manufacturing in their supply chain.
IPE’s Ma Jun said:
(Apple) only care about the price and quality (of their products) and not the environmental and social responsibility issues. In some ways they drive the suppliers to cut corners to win their contracts
This is not a first as Apple has been criticized for conditions in its Chinese supply chain before as well. In the past, a trail of suicides at Foxconn which is the Chinese factory that manufactures electronic devices for Apple and other major consumer electronic brands, sparked concerns over the working conditions there.
Apple refutes IPE’s claims by emphasizing that all its Chinese suppliers are monitored and audited regularly. An Apple spokeswoman told AFP:
Apple has a vigorous auditing programme that investigates suppliers and other parts of the business chain. We audit throughout… We actually have had an extensive auditing programme since 2006
This news comes hot on the heels of Apple’s recently reported record-breaking profits for Q1 2011, and while this report does raise some concerns regarding the working conditions, we have yet to see substantial evidence that solidifies these allegations against Apple.
Via Mashable