A 2014 Documentary Continues to Haunt Audiences around the Globe about the Killer Chemicals in Digital Device Plants
In 2014 Patently Apple posted a report titled "The BBC Report About Apple is Motivated by Politics and Unions." It was a hit job on Apple to be sure. Yet it was a powerful documentary that apparently overshadowed another documentary filmed in that same year titled "Complicit" that received little attention.
The first trailer presented below of "Complicit" was originally aired in 2014 while the second, shorter trailer presented below, was aired last February. Certain killer chemicals were banned from Apple's iDevice finishing plants in 2014 once it was understood that they were directly linked to Leukemia.
Last year Engadget blogged: "Even though Apple and Foxconn vowed to improve factory worker conditions back in 2012, life is still pretty rough for the people building the gadgets we use every day. Complicit, a new documentary from Heather White and Lynn Zhang, hopes to shine a light on what it's really like for Foxconn factory workers, who produce devices for Apple and other companies.
The film, which was mostly shot undercover, follows Yi Yeting, a former Foxconn employee who was diagnosed with leukemia at the young age of 24. The cause? Benzene poisoning from a cleaning agent that was used while making the iPhone and iPad. Apple banned the substance, along with n-hexane, from its assembly lines back in 2014, following reports that it was leading to leukemia among factory workers. But Yeting is still fighting for Foxconn and other."
Other 2017 reviews include those from left-leaning sites like the "Point of View Magazine" and "Alternet." Earlier this week the documentary got another round of play in Australia via ABC news running it over several evenings.
These kinds of industrial plant problems continue to this day. Patently Apple posted a report back on April 5th titled "Samsung sues Korea's Ministry of Labor to stop them from Disclosing Working Condition at their Semiconductor Complex." The report noted that "a former Samsung worker who was diagnosed with leukemia died in 2014. The victim's family claimed for access to the reports.
Samsung claimed that revealing the reports is an act of infringement of trade secrets, especially at a critical time when China is strategically promoting its semiconductor industry." So killing employees is now a trade secret? Really?
Patently Apple posted a report earlier today titled "Samsung's Offices were raided in Korea today with Prosecutors looking for Information on Sabotaging Union Activities." In light of our April report and the reminder of the Complicit documentary, we can understand why Samsung wants the unions to go away.
The Complicit documentary is slowly making the rounds around the globe. The last showing in the U.S. was at the San Diego University back in February. No near future dates have been announced on their screenings page.
It's difficult to understand that a 2014 documentary is taking so long to get mass attention. Why isn't Netflix scooping it up so that it could have a larger audience and harder impact?
Lastly, it should be noted that after the issue came to light due to documentaries such as Complicity in 2014, Apple banned benzene and n-hexane from iPhone and iPad final assembly production in that same year (2014).
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