Greenpeace Slams Apple

Greenpeace, largely considered to be the most popular environmental advocacy group in North America, has publicly accused Apple of knowingly selling products made from a number of hazardous chemicals that could be decomposed into harmful pollutants.

The iPhone is considered to be the least "environment-friendly" of the Apple products currently available on the market. If these mobile devices are thrown away at a non-designated disposal site, the results could be severely hazardous to the environment. Greenpeace explained that Apple was well aware of the hazardous chemicals contained in the iPhone upon releasing the product, but had promised to phase out these dangerous materials by the end of 2008.

Greenpeace has now lashed out at Apple for apparently breaching this verbal agreement.

The "Green Group" has cited plastic polyvinyl chloride and brominated flame retardants as the two leading hazardous materials found in the iPhone. Many activists are worried that the hype surrounding the new device will suffocate the need for more environmentally-friendly materials. (Source: news.yahoo.com)

In an interesting twist, Greenpeace admits that the two harmful materials used in the iPhone are domestic prohibitions only. In Europe, the iPhone continues to abide by all environmental sanctions which specifically restrict the use of lead, cadmium, mercury and chromium in certain products. The iPhone contains none of these materials and is deemed legal in Europe.

Greenpeace believes that the environmental laws overseas are not sufficient enough to save the environment. In a public statement, Greenpeace representatives demanded Apple "remove all hazardous substances and materials from their handsets and peripherals." (Source: news.yahoo.com)

Analysts believe that the news will be crippling for Apple, who has continued to pride itself on being a company committed to "greener" technology. Apple has gone to great lengths to identify itself as an earth-conscious company, even establishing a special page called "A Greener Apple" on its corporate web site.

Ironically, the home page reveals an image of Apple CEO Steve Jobs marveling over the fact that "Apple is actually removing toxic chemicals from its products while recycling its older products." (Source: informationweek.com)

Greenpeace is not so easily fooled by the message.

Apple declined to comment on the situation which is a strong indication that no significant changes will be made to Apple products in the near future.