As reported by UK newspaper The Guardian, a coalition of 34 Chinese environmental groups traced links between contamination cases and the production of materials such as mobile phone batteries and circuit boards for foreign companies.
Other companies in the report include UK phone companies Vodafone and BT, both of whom the coalition traced to Shanghang Huaqiang Battery, a manufacturer that was implicated in the lead poisoning of 121children last year. Shanghang Huaqiang supplied Narada Power Source, itself a supplier for the two phone companies.
Zhang Boju of Friends of Nature told the Guardian: “If a brand calls itself environmentally friendly and in favour of sustainable development, they should be concerned if their supply chains violate environment regulations. The least they should do is to reply to our request for information.”
Incidents of heavy metal poisoning from materials such as lead and cadmium in China are becoming increasingly common, with over 4,000 people reported to have unsafe levels of lead in their blood last year.
The new report highlights the need for greater transparency of the dealings of large companies. Although the Chinese companies responsible for the pollution are often reported, it is much less common for large foreign companies that deal with them are brought to attention, thanks to long and complicated chains of supply.