Greenpeace: iPhone contains hazardous chemicals
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Oct 15, 2007 at 12:44pm
Greenpeace says that its scientific tests reveal that Apple’s iPhone contains hazardous chemicals. The tests uncovered two types of hazardous substances, some of which have already been eliminated by other mobile phone makers, the ecology/environment group says.
Analysis revealed that the iPhone contains toxic brominated compounds (indicating the presence of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and hazardous PVC, according to Greenpeace. An independent scientific laboratory tested 18 internal and external components of the iPhone and confirmed the presence of brominated compounds in half the samples, including in the phone’s antenna, in which they made up 10 percent of the total weight of the flexible circuit board, the group adds. A mixture of toxic phthalates was found to make up 1.5 percent of the plastic (PVC) coating of the headphone cables.
“Steve Jobs has missed the call on making the iPhone his first step towards greening Apple’s products,” says Zeina Alhajj, Greenpeace International toxics campaigner. “It seems that Apple is far from leading the way for a green electronics industry as competitors, like Nokia, already sell mobile phones free of PVC”.
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
