"iPhone the first step in making a greener Apple"? Apparently not. The company has a lot of work ahead of it before meeting Greenpeace standards.

A series of new test results commissioned by the environmental group point to some potentially nasty chemicals hiding inside the iPhone. Greenpeace says they found that the phone contained hazardous chemicals like brominated compounds in the phone’s antenna, as well as a mixture of toxic phthalate esters in the plastic (PVC) coating of the headphone cables. Want to know the saddest part? These 2 chemicals have already been eliminated by other mobile phone makers.

While phthalate plasticizers are not prohibited for use in electronics, they are banned from use in all toys and childcare articles sold in Europe, according to Dr. David Santillo, Senior Scientist at the Greenpeace Research Laboratories and project coordinator. This is something to think about as, though you may not chew on your iPhone, it does end up getting used around your mouth and eyes, and both are great absorbers of chemicals.

Not only the materials that make up phone have problems. Greenpeace also said the battery in the iPhone was glued and soldered to the handset. This will make battery replacement difficult for consumers and further complicate recycling of the iPhone when it is discarded.

Zeina Alhajj, a Greenpeace International toxics campaigner stated in the report:

Steve Jobs has missed the call on making the iPhone his first step towards greening Apple’s products. 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.

Don’t think its just the iPhone, either. Greenpeace maintains that similar analyses of a MacBook Pro and an iPod Nano revealed the presence of both toxic substances in some of those components as well.

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Entry was posted on Monday, October 15th, 2007 at 4:56 pm under Apple, Technology.

Read more entries by Ema Kwiatkowski.
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