Greenpeace blasts Apple over toxic materials in iPhone

Greenpeace International, which has clashed with Apple Inc. over toxic chemicals in its products and criticized its post-sales electronics recycling programs, today slammed the company's iPhone, saying it includes hazardous materials that other cell phone makers have eliminated.

An analysis done on a disassembled iPhone by an independent lab in the U.K. found toxic brominated compounds and hazardous PVC (polyvinyl chloride) in multiple components of the handsets. Bromine, a chemical used in fire-retardant compounds, was present in more than half of the 18 samples taken, Greenpeace claimed, while toxic phthalates made up 1.5% of the PVC coating of ear bud cables.

In no instances, however, did any of the tested iPhone components -- which included the four circuit boards, the battery casing and the internal case -- appear to violate European Union regulations, Greenpeace acknowledged.

Even so, the discovery of bromine and PVC raised the group's ire, in part because other mobile phone makers have eliminated the chemical and the hard-to-recycle plastic. Nokia Corp.'s handsets, for example, are PVC-free, said Greenpeace, while Motorola Inc. and Sony Ericsson have bromine-free models on the market.