In a report that has not received enough attention, Greenpeace did a laboratory analysis of the iPhone and discovered toxic substances: brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and hazardous PVC. Yes, wrong number indeed; levels for these toxins should have been zero.

In May, after thousands of you had participated in our Green my Apple campaign, Steve Jobs the boss of Apple claimed: “Apple is ahead of, or will soon be ahead of, most of its competitors” on environmental issues.

We watched closely when the iPhone was launched in June for any mention of the green features of the phone from Apple. There was none.

So we bought a new iPhone in June and sent it our research laboratories in the UK. Analysis revealed that the iPhone contains toxic brominated compounds (indicating the prescence of brominated flame retardants (BFRs)) and hazardous PVC. The findings are detailed in the report, “Missed call: the iPhone’s hazardous chemicals“

Visit the Web site for the rest of the article. iPod toxins are also of concern, as the iPod uses the same kind of PVC containing headphones as the iPhone.

Wired reports that CEH confirms the presence of these toxins violates California law:

After conducting its own “independent lab tests,” the Center for Environmental Health (CEH), a non-profit consumer watchdog group, has concluded that the headphone cords for both the iPhone and iPod do indeed contain high levels of phthalates.While the previous Greenpeace analysis found 5070 parts per million (ppm) of dibutyl phthalate (DBP) in the iPhone headset cable, the CEH’s subsequent testing actually found 6200 ppm of DBP in the headset cable of the phone and 6300 ppm DBP in the iPod headset cable. That, according to the safety group, violates California state standards.

“Apple customers should know that when they get their hands on an iPhone they may be getting a dose of toxic chemicals as well,” said Michael Green, executive director of CEH, in a statement issued Thursday morning. “It’s clear that Apple’s priority is to market new products as fast as possible, not as safely as possible. For their customers who are buying now, that’s just not good enough.”

CNN recently reported on the iPhone toxins. Here is a link to the video. Here’s the Greenpeace video that reveals their lab testing results.