Reuters, HOSUR, India
An Indian state health authority is investigating how liquid discharged from Apple supplier Tata’s iPhone components factory has affected farmers, some of who complained about skin issues from contamination in their farmlands, according to three officials and a document reviewed by Reuters.The health investigation opens a new front in an environmental dispute that has become a test case for India’s push to become a major manufacturing hub for Apple iPhones.The Tata Electronics plant in Hosur was sent a warning notice by the state pollution control board on May 25 for allegedly contaminating groundwater in adjacent farms.
A security guard stands at the boundary of a Tata Electronics factory in Hosur, India, on Monday.
The pollution board dropped its scrutiny after confirming its analysis of recently collected water samples from inside the facility did “not indicate any contamination,” Tata said in a statement.Tata did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
According to Indian government sources and a letter, health officials in the district have been running their own investigation since at least late last month after farmers complained about the plant, which opened in 2021 and makes iPhone back covers as well as other parts.A health inspection found that discharge from the Tata plant had caused a “severe foul smell” and left water “unsuitable for animals to drink,” said a letter sent to the state-run Institute of Vector Control and Zoonoses in Hosur by Anish Parvin, a government medical officer in the Ullugurukkai village, where the plant is.“Wastewater released from Tata Electronics ... has accumulated in nearby agricultural lands and is contaminating the clean water present in wells nearby,” the letter said, which is not public, but was reviewed by Reuters. “It has also been reported that people are experiencing skin-related health issues due to this contamination.”Parvin said she received complaints from farmers about health issues, although no cases have yet been clinically established.Two water samples from the farms have been submitted by health officials to a state government laboratory for testing, a government source said.Both samples tested positive for Escherichia coli, bacteria that indicates fecal contamination of the water supply, a report from the district public health laboratory dated May 30 said.The probe by state health officials is ongoing, with a second set of results from tests to come, said Rajesh Kumar C, a senior government official who oversees public health in the region.The dispute has pitted a farming community against the Tata Group, an industrial giant that is one of Apple’s most important Indian suppliers and central to Apple’s drive to diversify production beyond China.India is on track to make 26 percent of the world’s iPhones this year, up from 6 percent four years ago, research firm Counterpoint said.
