Company active on toxins, groups say

Two environmental advocacy groups have praised Apple in a joint report, newly distributed to the media. ChemSec and Clean Production Action claim that Apple is one of the more respectable companies in eliminating bromine and chlorine from its products, through an "innovative program that restricts the use of nearly all bromine and chlorine compounds across all their product lines," the groups say. A number of smaller Apple products -- including iPods and iPhones -- are now free from any PVC or BFRs (brominated flame retardants), and its computers are said to be mostly free of PVC, and entirely free of BFRs.

Of the seven companies mentioned in the report, Apple is the only one involved with computers. Also commended is phone maker Sony Ericsson, whose products are said to be "99.9 percent" free of BFRs, and set to completely abandon PVC by the end of 2009. Seagate has already removed chlorine and bromine from its hard drives, and DSM Engineering Plastics has done the same with its latest material. Two other companies, Nan Ya and Indium, are described as only working towards removing the above chemicals from their circuit boards.

By Electronista Staff