The database is run by the independent research organization that Ma directs: the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs in Beijing, founded in 2006.

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As I reported last August, the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE), a Beijing-based nonprofit organization, is using government information and enforcement data to track pollution across China.

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Horrified by a spate of heavy-metal poisonings in several Chinese provinces, the Beijing-based researcher at the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs helped rally a group of NGOs that has reached out to major electronics companies operating in China.

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Since the campaign was launched, Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, in collaboration with the NGO coalition, has traded emails and letters with companies such as Samsung, HP, Panasonic, Intel, Nokia, BT, Motorola, Vodafone and IBM.

FORBES: Targeting Companies That Pollute China's Waters