Tech Shout!

Greenpeace has slammed Apple once again. This time the technology giant is in trouble for its revolutionary iPhone which according to the folks at Greenpeace contain enough hazardous chemicals to affect the environment.

According to Greenpeace, Apple is the only phone maker who is yet using these toxic chemicals and that to in its much-talked about iPhone.

This may come as a rude shock to all those have got their hands on Apple’s iPhone because it was only in May this year that Apple’s chief executive Steve Jobs responded to attacks made by various environmental groups accusing the company of not being ‘Green’ enough.

Jobs even went so far as to say that Apple being a leader in innovation and engineering is also applying these same talents to become an environmental leader.

Apparently, Greenpeace reports have stated that the iPhone contains toxic brominated compounds and hazardous PVC. Not only that; Greenpeace’s lab found that two of the phthalate plasticizers found at high levels in the iPhone’s PVC headphone cable have been classified in Europe as ‘toxic to reproduction, category 2’.

Moreover, out of the 18 internal and external parts in the iPhone, half of them are said to contain brominated material, including the antenna. On a better note for Apple, some Greenpeace tests did yield positive results as they found the iPhone to contain to traces of cadmium or mercury. On the downside, this test also found small quantities of lead and chromium.

Here is what Zeina Alhajj, Greenpeace International toxics campaigner said, “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.”

To make matters worse for Apple, the Center for Environmental Health has decided to sue Apple based on the Greenpeace report. They allege that under California’s Proposition 65 law, all products that can expose consumers to phthalates or other chemicals that are reproductive toxins or carcinogens must carry a warning label, which Apple’s Iphone clearly does not.

Michael Green, Executive Director of Center for Environmental Health said, “There is no reason to have these potentially hazardous chemicals in iPhones. We expect Apple to reformulate their products to make them safer from cradle to grave, so they don’t pose a threat to consumers, workers or the environments.”

Considering that Apple is one of the hugest companies globally, Jobs could have made a ‘real’ statement by making the iPhone a green product. Today, consumers all over the world have become smarter in the sense that they would rather go in for a product that does not harm the already destroyed environment. Looks like the company only has one thing on their minds- huge sales of revolutionary products- and nothing more than that.