Foxconn Suicides: Who's To Blame?

Is this Apple gadget worth dying for? Factory workers who make these devices are dropping like flies.

Monday, June 7, 2010 0:39 GMT

The Foxconn Factory in China where Apple products are assembled has seen 10 employee suicides so far this year and Jobs doesn’t seem to be batting an eyelash.

Reese Butler, spokesperson for the Kristin Brooks Hope Center for suicide prevention in Washington, D.C., is “shocked” that the Apple CEO is downplaying the workplace suicide rate and has done little to help his staff deal with their suicidal tendencies.

Butler argues, “People don’t kill themselves at work. They generally do that at home, or in their car, or in the woods. It’s not normal to do it at work.”

Butler doesn’t think the factory environment is to blame since in his words, “The conditions during the Holocaust were bad but no one committed suicide at concentration camps.”

Instead, he feels it’s imperative that Apple train employees on battling depression to avoid more deaths.