By Mark Duell

Last updated at 8:10 AM on 27th January 2012

Working excessive overtime without a single day off during the week, living together in crowded dormitories and standing so long that their legs swell and they can hardly walk after a 24-hour shift.

These are the lives some employees claim they live at Apple’s manufacturing centres in China, where the firm’s suppliers allegedly wrongly dispose of hazardous waste and produce improper records.

Almost 140 workers at a supplier in China were injured two years ago using a poisonous chemical to clean iPhone screens – and two explosions last year killed four people while injuring more than 75.

Hard grafters: Workers inside a factory of Foxconn, an Apple manufacturing partner, in the township of Longhua in the southern Guangdong province. A New York Times investigation looked at the working conditions

Assembly: Employees of Hon Hai Precision Industry, an Apple producer, work along a production line in the Longhua Science and Technology Park, also known as Foxconn City, in Shenzhen, China

The California tech giant had allegedly been alerted to hazardous conditions inside the Chengdu plant in southwest China before the explosions at those plants, reported the New York Times.

‘If Apple was warned and didn’t act, that’s reprehensible,’ Massachusetts Institute of Technology work safety expert Nicholas Ashford told the New York Times.

‘But what’s morally repugnant in one country is accepted business practices in another, and companies take advantage of that,’ the former U.S. Labor Department advisor added.

Banners in the Chengdu plant gave a warning to the 120,000 staff: ‘Work hard on the job today or work hard to find a job tomorrow’. Workers who arrived late often had to write confession letters.

The newspaper’s report comes hot on the heels of Apple announcing whopping $13billion profits on $46billion sales in its last quarter – but the firm still wants its overseas factories to produce more.

At work: Apple executives claim the firm has improved its factories in recent years and issues a supplier code of conduct on labour and safety – but problems still exist, according to labour advocacy groups

Unpleasant sight: Nets to prevent workers from jumping to their deaths are pictured outside one of the Foxconn factory buildings in the township of Longhua, in southern Guangdong province

Apple executives claim it has improved factories in recent years and issues a supplier code of conduct on labour and safety – but problems still exist, according to employment advocacy groups.

More than half of the suppliers audited by Apple have broken at least one part of its conduct code each year since 2007 and have even broken the law in some cases, according to company reports.

A Foxconn employee jumped or fell from a block of flats after losing an iPhone prototype in 2009 – and 18 other workers apparently tried to commit suicide in two years, reported the New York Times.

Suicide nets were installed to prevent workers from jumping to their deaths and Foxconn began providing better mental health treatment for its staff.

Li Mingqi worked for Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn Technology until last spring and helped manage the Chengdu plant which had the explosion. He is now suing Foxconn over his dismissal.

Impressive: Customers visit the Apple Store in New York City’s Grand Central Station. Skyrocketing iPhone and iPad sales have helped Apple smash Wall Street expectations this week

iPad use: The report comes hot on the heels of Apple announcing whopping $13billion profits on $46billion sales in its last quarter – but the firm still wants its overseas factories to produce more

‘Apple never cared about anything other than increasing product quality and decreasing production cost,’ Mr Li told the New York Times. ‘Workers’ welfare has nothing to do with their interests.’

The fatal Chengdu explosion came from an aluminium dust build up three weeks after the iPad came out. Despite Apple’s probe, seven months on there was a further, non-fatal, explosion in Shanghai.

A former Apple executive claimed that the company has had knowledge of labour abuses in some factories for four years – ‘and they’re still going on because the system works for us’.

Suppliers are only allowed the smallest margins on what they produce for Apple, and executives at the Cupertino company always ask them for details on part costs, worker numbers and salary sizes.

But workers at a factory of Apple partner Wintek went on strike after rumours that employees were exposed to toxins because they evaporated three times faster than alcohol when rubbing screens.

Treatment: A victim injured by an explosion at a Foxconn factory in May arrives at a hospital in Chengdu

Panic: Smoke rises as police and onlookers stand near at a Foxconn factory in Chengdu, China, last May

Apple’s late co-founder Steve Jobs, who died last October, said two years ago that Apple is a worldwide leader in ‘understanding the working conditions in our supply chain’.

He said many of the factories have restaurants, cinemas, hospitals and swimming pools. While staff say they appreciate these facilities, the working conditions are still seen as relentless.

Foxconn said conditions are ‘anything but harsh’, just one in 20 workers assembly line workers must stand to do their jobs and the firm has a ‘very good safety record’, reported the New York Times.

But the Mail on Sunday visited a Foxconn factory making iPods in Shenzhen, China, in 2006, and our reports on long hours, crowded accommodation and punishments shocked Apple executives.

‘We’re trying really hard to make things better,’ one former Apple executive told the New York Times. ‘But most people would still be really disturbed if they saw where their iPhone comes from.’

Apple: Poor working conditions inside the Chinese factories making iPads | Mail Online.

Despite what all the media are yammering at you, despite all the fear mongering about Iran’s “nuclear threat” (Iran has been fully verified by the IAEA and ALL the U.S. intelligence community agree and are on record that Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons), despite talk that Iran is intolerant, despite the daily barrage of bad press and unpleasant innuendo, Iran is a great country, friendly, cultured, fun and spiritually-minded!

The “Powers That Were” are dead set on taking us to war against Iran, but “They lied about Vietnam… Iraq…Afghanistan…” and “Iran Is NOT Our Enemy ! ”

Israel uses sophisticated attack jets and naval vessels to bomb densely crowded refugee camps, schools, apartment blocks, mosques, and slums to attack a population that has no air-force, no air defense, no navy, no heavy weapons, no artillery units, no mechanized armor, no command and control, no army and calls it a war. It is not a war, it is murder. Images of dead Palestinian children lined up as if asleep on the hospital floor are a metaphor for the future. Israel will now speak to the Palestinians in the language of death.

Andre Evans
Prisonplanet.com
January 21, 2012

This article first appeared at Natural Society

A recent study has found that Monsanto’s Roundup pesticide may be responsible for causing infertility. After reviewing the many already well-documented negative impacts Roundup has on the environment and living creatures, it is no surprise to add yet another item to the list.

Monsanto’s Best-Selling Herbicide Roundup Linked to Infertility

Researchers tested roundup on mature male rats at a concentration range between 1 and 10,000 parts per million (ppm), and found that within 1 to 48 hours of exposure, testicular cells of the mature rats were either damaged or killed. According to the study, even at a concentration of 1 ppm, the Roundup was able to affect the test subjects by decreasing their testosterone concentrations by as much as 35%.

How can such small levels of exposure have such a profound effect on the reproductive system? Roundup, being a glyphosate-based herbicide is also known to have endocrine disrupting properties.

Much like BPA, glyphosate-based herbicides have the ability to interfere with the natural hormonal balance in the human body, thereby introducing a number of health risks along with even the smallest levels of exposure. These chemicals are strong enough to affect your metabolism, behavior and mood, reproductive organs, and even provoke cancer.

As a result, any plants that are sprayed with roundup carry with them a chemical effect similar to that of other endocrine disruptors, offsetting the hormonal balance and causing adverse effects, despite even the smallest levels of exposure. This in part contributes to the number of males with increased fertility issues in more recent times.

It is no surprise that Monsanto, a company already infamous for a whole slew of dangerous concoctions, would also be responsible for affecting another major aspect of human health on a large scale.

Ultimately it is highly important to avoid any products sprayed with pesticides or herbicides for the many associated health risks – now fertility included. In addition to avoiding food which has been tarnished by this pesticide, you may also want to consider investing in a water filter. The carcinogenic chemical Roundup contains known as glyphosate has been found to be contaminating the groundwater in areas it is being applied in.

Being aware of the hormonal disruptors you face in your daily life such as BPA and now Roundup is a must. Even the smallest levels of exposure can have the large negative effects.

Prison Planet.com » Monsanto’s Best-Selling Herbicide Roundup Linked to Infertility.

Robert Johnson
Business Insider
January 20, 2012

The SEAL Team that stormed Osama bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound last May put special forces commandos on the map.

Without SEAL Team 6?s exploits that day, there is little doubt reports of a new commando team in the Persian Gulf would have raised an eyebrow.

As it is, military blogs are buzzing about Spencer Ackerman’s story at Danger Room where he reports that a new “elite commando team” is operating in the Gulf region.

Ackerman spoke with military sources that say the team, called Joint Special Operations Task Force-Gulf Coordinating Council (JSOTF-GCC), is on the ground to instruct local troops in special operations. This is the first time the U.S. has acknowledged the existence of the team.

Ackerman admits there is no proven connection to the Iranian scientist who was assassinated several days ago, and says many special-ops guys dismiss the news, saying that the new task force is simply there to advise and any connection to Iran will be “indirect at most.”

Which doesn’t make it any less interesting to add to the pile of rumors and tensions piling out of the Persian Gulf, but there are special forces teams assigned to hot-spots all over the world, and the public generally has no clue at all.

There are 2,500 Navy SEALs, about half of which are based at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base and Dam Neck Annex in Virginia Beach, with 2,400 assigned to the Special Warfare Command (SWC).

SWC has an additional 700 Special Warfare Boat Operators, and 700 reserve personnel deployed around the world. Considering there are already two aircraft carrier groups in the Gulf now, there are likely many more special forces in the region than just this newly acknowledged task force.

Prison Planet.com » The Pentagon Admits An Elite US Commando Team Has Been Deployed Near Iran.