Noise and stench
The residents living near the Kaedar and Unimicron factories have complained for years about the noise and stench caused by the Apple operations.
"It emits stinky gases every day. Sometimes we cannot even fall asleep. The smell makes us dizzy," said Miss Mei, who pointed at Kaedar as the original source. She revealed that another kind of gas, which she described as acidic and sweet smelling, might come from Unimicron.
There is a kindergarten nearby, but very few children are sent there to receive preschool education. That's because the school is right next door to Kaedar, and parents who can afford it send their children to schools further away to avoid the risk of pollution.
Apart from bad odor, noise has also been an ongoing problem. At least 11 households are located next to Kaedar and, according to them, they all suffer because of the noise from the factory. Zhu Zuping, whose apartment is only 100 meters away, complained that he often relies on sleeping pills to rest at night or uses the radio to cover the noise.
Kaedar and Unimicron have repeatedly denied pollution problems, and the local environmental protection bureau also announced that emissions from the two factories did not exceed standard amounts. However, Kaedar has already signed a letter of intent with the Kunshan local government for its relocation.
A hard Apple to chew
Kaedar and Unimicron are only the tip of the iceberg, as many other suspected Apple suppliers have caused dangerous pollution. An Apple factory in the city of Taiyuan in Shanxi Province was accused of releasing gases into the air that made it difficult for residents to open their windows.
According to the latest report, the large volume of discharge in Apple's supply chain greatly endangers public health and safety. Apart from noise and stench, other forms of discharge have also been seen at Apple's factories across China, and some are allegedly hazardous.
In addition, controversial problems have arisen at two other contracted Apple factories in China, one owned by Taiwanese technology giant Foxconn and the other by WinTek, also a Taiwanese company. Following a series of worker suicides at the Foxconn plant in 2010, 137 workers at a WinTek plant near Suzhou suffered "adverse health effects" after being exposed to a chemical substance called N-hexane, which is used to clean screens.
Ma Jun, head of the IPEA, said that his group had received an email from Apple on Wednesday asking for direct talks, an unusual move for the technology giant and an indication of how damaging the allegations could be.
In a perfect world, no one would accept Apple's brilliantly-designed products at the cost of harm to human health and pollution to our shared environment. Yet, so far, it seems citizens are more concerned with owning the latest trendy Apple product, regardless of the suffering it causes to people who can only dream of buying an iPhone.
