Apple bans two hazardous agents from China iPhone production sites
Apple has banned harmful chemicals Benzene and n-Hexane from its 22 iPhone and iPad manufacturing sites after minor traces of the toxins were found in four facilities.
iPhone and iPad components are assembled at the sites
Benzene, which is a carcinogen, and n-hexane, a debilitating nerve damage agent, have been prohibited from use at the manufacturing plants, Apple has said.
The firm banned the substances, used for cleaning, following pressure from campaign groups that argued daily exposure to low levels of the chemicals could still inflict life-long harm upon workers - of which there are half a million across the 22 sites.
Earlier this summer, human rights group, China Labour Watch, allegedly infiltrated a Chinese Apple production plant and reported several cases of abuse, raising concerns for work standards across the board at the firm.
Lisa Jackson, environmental director of Apple, said: “Recently, we received some questions about whether the chemicals Benzene and n-Hexane are used in the manufacturing of our products. Apple treats any allegations of unsafe working conditions extremely seriously.
“We took immediate investigative action, sending specialised teams into each of our 22 final assembly facilities, and found no evidence of workers’ health being put at risk. We’ve updated our tight restrictions on Benzene and n-Hexane to explicitly prohibit their use in final assembly processes.”
Jackson added that the firm will invest in research to minimise or remove further toxins from the production process.
Campaign group Green America announced it was pleased with the changes Apple has made but urged the firm to continue cleaning up its processes.
It said: “Beyond benzene and n-hexane, there are thousands of chemicals used in the manufacturing of electronics - some which are largely untested.
“Apple first needs to disclose all of the chemicals used in the manufacturing processes of its products, not just those with restrictions. Additionally, Apple [should] look deeper into its supply chain, to the second and third tier suppliers, where chemical usage and safety procedures are less controlled.”
Green America continued: “Apple has 349 supplier facilities in China - with an estimated 1.5m workers. It has investigated just 22 of these facilities (6.3%) which employ a third of the workers who work on Apple’s products.”
This comes after Apple shareholders earlier this week brought legal action against Steve Job's estate after it emerged he entered illegal employment agreements with other Silicon Valley firms.