The Consumerist, an ardent consumer empowerment site, has recently reported that two complaints, pertaining to the repair of Apple's Mac systems, were turned initially down by the company officials, who annulled the warranty of the products.

Both the complaints, coming from two different parts of the country, and with a year's gap between them, state that the Apple officials refused to repair the systems, saying that the AppleCare program voids the warranty of a product that was "contaminated" with cigarette smoke; essentially due to the "health risks of secondhand smoke."

One of the Consumerist readers who came up with the complaint against Apple said that the reason that the company's officials initially cited for their inability to undertake the repair of the system was that nicotine was on OSHA's - Occupational Safety and Health Administration's - list of hazardous substances.

However, it was also noted that the 'hazardous substances' listed on OSHA include "calcium carbonate, isopropyl alcohol, chlorine, hydrogen peroxide, sucrose, talc, etc."

Meanwhile, a skim-through of the AppleCare document for North America does not mention any term or condition whereby Apple can refuse service to equipment because of smoke, secondhand or otherwise, or of the so-called OSHA violations.

What is even stranger is the fact that Apple's own stated terms and conditions mention a customer replacement product in the warranty policy!