Mobile phone manufacturers, under pressure from consumers and regulators, use less toxic substances in the manufacture of their gadgets, the researchers note.
The Michigan Environmental Center conducted a study that examined 36 different cell phone models that have appeared on the market over the past five years. Motorola Citrus, LE RemarqApple and iPhone 4S were the least toxic.
So, the latest iPhone 5 was in fifth place, its main competitor Samsung Galaxy S III - in ninth. As for the first best-selling smartphone series, released in 2007, the iPhone 2G, the most toxic materials were discovered in it.
“We concluded that mobile phones are chemically dangerous items, but they are becoming much better,” said Jeff Gearhart, director of research at the environmental center.
Each phone contains a certain amount of toxic substances.
In a statement, the environmental center explained that “every phone taken as a sample for this study contains at least one of the dangerous chemicals such as lead, chlorine, bromine, mercury and cadmium.”
Such hazardous substances can pollute the environment at any stage of the product’s life from the moment the mobile phone is assembled until the day it is thrown away.
“Consumer interest in safer products is forcing companies to design and manufacture safer products,” says Gearhart, and refers to tighter controls on hazardous materials used in consumer electronics in Europe and Asia.
