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October 27, 2006

GREENPEACE FORCED TO LEAVE APPLE EXPO

[Rachel's introduction: Greenpeace purchased a booth at Mac Expo to
pressure Apple Computer to adopt green business practices, including
the precautionary principle. For their efforts, Greenpeace activists
were ejected from the Expo.]

By Sharon Khare

Greenpeace's high profile 'Green my Apple' stall was shut-down at the
start of the Mac Expo -- organisers of the Mac Expo claimed they had
received complaints from unnamed sources. The Greenpeace stall was
bought for the three-day expo in an attempt to raise awareness about
concerns over the use of toxic chemicals in Apple's products.

The Greenpeace volunteers manning the stall were signing up Mac fans
to challenge Apple to go green. Flyers explaining the 'Green my Apple'
campaign were handed out to members of the public along with organic
green apples. The volunteers have vowed to return to the expo tomorrow
to continue the 'Green my Apple' campaign.

"This reaction is totally over-the-top" said Iza Kruszewska,
Greenpeace International campaigner at the expo. "Apple refuses to
address our criticisms on their products, both for the recycling and
for the use of harmful chemicals. Instead of hiding their head in the
sand, Apple should be a world leader in the greening of the
electronics industry, not lagging behind," she said.

Apple scored 11th place (out of 14) on a 'Guide to Greener
Electronics' recently released by Greenpeace, with a poor showing on
almost all criteria. Greenpeace also said that Apple fails to embrace
the precautionary principle, withholds its full list of regulated
substances, provides no timelines for eliminating toxic polyvinyl
chloride (PVC) and no commitment at all to phasing out all uses of
brominated flame retardants (BFRs). The company also performs poorly
on product take back and recycling, with the exception of reporting on
the amounts of its electronic waste recycled.

"It's time for Apple to use clean components in all of its products
and to provide a free take-back program to reuse and recycle its
products wherever they are sold. We are challenging the world leader
in design to also be a world leader in environmental innovation. We
challenge Apple to have a product range on the market by 2007 which is
free of the worst toxic chemicals," said Kruszewska.