Investigations made by 34 Chinese environmental groups indicate that suppliers of some internationally known IT companies are discharging heavy metal pollutants in China.

The 34 NGOs, including Friends of Nature, Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, and Green Beagle, said at a recent press conference that their joint investigations discovered that some IT products manufacturers are discharging heavy metal pollutants exceeding the stipulated standards and this has caused serious pollution to the environment. The parties discovered that manufacturing of batteries and printed circuit boards for IT products is one of main sources of heavy metal pollution.

Suppliers of prestigious international companies such as Microsoft, Cisco, IBM, and Intel have been included in the report which says that they are producing heavy metals that not only contaminate the air, water, and soil, but are also causing health hazards.

The NGOs have written to the IT companies concerned seeking confirmation of the problems caused by their suppliers. According to Ma Jun, the director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, so far there have been swift responses from Panasonic, Sanyo, Haier, and Lenovo, but as yet there are no replies from the other companies.

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