Mobile phone manufacturers, responding to consumer and
regulatory pressure, are using fewer toxic substances in their
products, researchers in the United States said Wednesday. The
Motorola Citrus, Apple iPhone 4S and LE Remarq emerged as the
least toxic cell phones in a study of 36 different models that
have come onto the market during the past five years, the
Michigan-based Ecology Center said. The newly released iPhone 5
ranked fifth, and its arch rival Samsung Galaxy S III ninth,
while the iPhone 2G—the first in the top-selling smartphone
series, released in 2007—was found to contain the most toxic
materials. "The takeaway is that mobile phones are chemically
intensive, and full of chemical hazards, but they've been
getting a lot better," Jeff Gearhart, research director at the
Ecology Center, told AFP in a telephone interview. In a
statement, the Ecology Center explained that "every phone
sampled in this study contained at least one of following
hazardous chemicals: lead, bromine, chlorine, mercury and c