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  • Hello

    • 8 out of 10
    • Poe
    • Poe rocked my world with "Angry Johnny" (I want to kill you/I want to blow you/Away) and "Trigger Happy Jack" (Trigger Happy Jack/ You're gonna blow/But I'm gonna get off/Before you go), as powe

  • The Stooges

    • 8 out of 10
    • The Stooges
    • Another pillar of my musical foundations, The Stooges' first album is one those records whose influence far outweighed its popularity. Like The Velvet Underground & Nico, hordes of people wh

  • How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

    • 6 out of 10
    • U2
    • U2's latest entry is a mostly underwhelming collection of songs that does very little to sound any different from its equally pedestrian predecessor, 2000's "All That You Can't Leave Behind." While

  • 8:30

    • 10 out of 10
    • Weather Report
    • This is Weather Reports quintessential line-up captured live. Jaco Pastorious and Peter Erskine join Wayne Shorter and, of course, Joe Zawinul to create this masterpiece.
  • Machine Gun Etiquette

    • 8 out of 10
    • The Damned
    • Punk rock is mostly associated with three chords and a bad attitude, but the Damned were one of the few bands of the era bent on bringing musicianship and a good sense of humor to the scene. And while

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Greenpeace Fires Back at Chemical Group Over iPhone

First, the environmental activist group Greenpeace released a report calling Apple to task over chemicals found in the iPhone, then a bromine-focused industry group cried foul over the Greenpeace report. Now Greenpeace is defending its report and chemical analysis procedures.

In response to the Bromine Science and Environmental Forum (BSEF), Greenpeace International Web Editor, Tom Dowdall stated "The study clearly identified bromine in a wide range of materials and components in the iPhone. The technique used is widely recognised for this purpose (XRF; X-Ray Fluorescence spectrometry)."

He added "Similarly, analysis of other hazardous chemicals in the iPhone, such as phthalates, were conducted using recognised techniques."

Mr. Dowdall went on to explain that it was not possible to determine exactly which brominated chemicals are used in the iPhone -- an issue that the BSEF pointed out -- because current chemical analysis tools aren’t capable of pinpointing which form of the chemical was used. The only way to know for sure, he explained, is for Apple to release the information.

Greenpeace does acknowledge that the bromine used in the iPhone as a flame retardant is most likely a reactive form that bonds with other chemicals to create a plastic when heated. Once converted into a plastic, the chemical is no longer available to the environment. The group points out, however, that in many cases electronic devices containing bromine are dismantled by hand by workers in China, potentially exposing them to the hazardous chemicals.

"While the iPhone might not yet be waste we want all companies to eliminate BFR’s from their products," Mr. Dowdall said.

While watchdogging companies to ensure that consumers are not exposed to hazardous chemicals is an admirable act, the public attack on Apple and the iPhone may have a different motive behind it -- namely, headline grabbing. In a rebuttal to Gizmodo, Mr. Dowdall commented "While it might not make as many headlines as the iPhone it doesn’t mean that we are not focusing on all manufacturers to remove toxic chemicals from their products."

In this case, Greenpeace’s method may do more to harm the organization than help it.

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