Taiwanese garment manufacturer Nien Hsing has denied allegations that it's factory in the African kingdom of Lesotho has been illegally dumping chemical waste, needles, and knife blades in landfills, endangering the health of the numerous children who prowl the landfills daily in search of used fabric which they can sell. Nien Hsing has also refuted allegations that it hires and mistreats child laborers at its Lesotho factory.
Reports in the foreign media also claim that Lesotho discharges liquid waste into a river used by nearby residents for cooking and bathing. The reports further allege that Nien Hsing forces its child laborers to work for over ten hours a day, and that many of the children have difficulty breathing, or suffer from skin rashes.
Nien Hsing's spokesman Tsai Shu-hsuan said that all of the waste produced by Nien Hsing's factory in Lesotho was handled by a local cleaning company appointed by the government of Lesotho. He added that all needles and knife blades disposed of by the factory were collected and disposed of together, and that around fifty Taiwanese companies shared the same landfills locally, making it difficult to ascertain which company was responsible for the waste in question. Tsai added that Nien Hsing did not hire child laborers, and that the company has instructed lawyers to handle the incident.
