Be Well.
David
Chemical breakdown: The toxic substances inside your mobile phone
- Researchers carry out analysis of 36 mobile phones to determine which contain the most toxic chemicals in their components
- iPhone 5 ranked fifth cleanest in the league table - compared to ninth for nearest competitor the Samsung Galaxy S III
- Many chemicals contained in mobile phone handsets are linked to birth defects and health problems
- Much of the waste is sent to the developing world for recycling, where there is lax regulation and environmental safeguards
By DAMIEN GAYLE
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When
you look at your sleek, shiny phone it may look clean - excepting
perhaps a few scuffs and smears from normal wear and tear.
But look below the surface and you will find an interior that is far more toxic than most people realise.
Researchers
have undertaken a chemical analysis of 36 mobile handsets - including
the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S III - to find out which ones pose the most
risk to the health of humans and our environment.
Scroll down for video
Researchers
from healthystuff.org and ifixit analysed the chemicals inside leading
phones, giving them a chemical ranking for how environmentally friendly
they are.
The researchers analysed 30
different handsets for the research, including the bestselling Samsung Galaxy S3
Ubiquitous
electronic gadgets harbour a staggering array of toxic chemicals, from
hazardous flame retardants, PVC and bromine to heavy metals like lead,
tin and chromium - and even mercury and cadmium.
However
the hazardous ingredients of mobile phones have long been kept under
wraps by manufacturers who are tight lipped about the recipes they use
for their high-tech components.
The
only way to find out then, is to take apart the gadgets and analyse
their chemical components - which experts from ifixit.org and
healthystuff.org have now done.
HeathyStuff.org
sampled 36 different mobile phones that had been released in the last 5
years. The phones were completely disassembled and interior and
exterior components were sampled by X-ray Fluorescence spectrometry - a
process which determines the chemical composition of a material.
The
team found that more modern phones are far more environmentally
friendly - although the latest iPhone does have more harmful chemicals
than its predecessor.
'DIGITAL DUMPING GROUND': THE TOWN WHERE CHILDREN ARE DYING TO RECYCLE YOUR OLD PHONES
Agbogbloshie
is a suburb of Accra, the capital of Ghana and the country's largest
city. Above it rises a doomsday column of acrid black smoke - fuelled by
burning plastic e-waste.
The area is poisonous, post-apocalyptic hell - a sprawling, toxic dumping ground stretching for a mile or two. This is the final
resting place for your old TV, computer or mobile phone.
Piles
of cracked computer monitors sit in rancid pools of noxious green
slime, while the circuit boards and innards of old PCs leak toxic
mercury, beryllium and cadmium, poisoning the earth.
Scampering
over these mounds of decaying computers are red-eyed gangs of wild,
young boys in rags who smash old computer components with rocks to rip
out the valuable copper wire inside.
Here they burn the plastic away from computer monitors and plastic encased cables to get to the precious metals inside.
The
combustion releases toxic metals - lead, beryllium, cadmium, mercury -
into the atmosphere. Likewise, burning creates some of the most
carcinogenic and toxic substances known, including polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons, dioxins and furans
This
desperate situation here is part of a
pattern all over the globe - First World nations dump their electronic
rubbish on developing countries, poisoning communities, polluting water
sources and causing birth defects, mental retardation and, ultimately,
death.
The
researchers then ranked the phones on a scale of 0-5 - with lowest
being the best - according to three criteria: by chemical, by component
and overall.
The
Motorola Citrus ranked the least toxic phone followed by the iPhone 4 S
and the LG Remarq. The new iPhone 5 ranked 5th - better than its main
competitor, Samsung's Galaxy S III, which ranked 9th.
The most toxic phone tested was the iPhone 2G, which was so poisonous it prompted a report by environmental group
Greenpeace warning of the environmental dangers it posed.
Every
phone sampled in the study contained at least one of following
hazardous chemicals: lead, bromine, chlorine, mercury and cadmium.
These
hazardous substances can pollute throughout a product’s life cycle,
including when the minerals are extracted; when they are processed;
during phone manufacturing; and at the end of the phone’s useful life.
Emissions
during disposal and recycling of phones as electronic waste, or
'e-waste', are particularly problematic. A 2004 study found that
three-quarters of all cell phones leach lead at levels that would
qualify them as hazardous waste.
While
tracking e-waste is difficult, it is estimated that 50-80 per cent is
exported to countries such as China, India, Pakistan, Vietnam and the
Philippines, where there is a labour-intensive, informal recycling
infrastructure that often lacks environmental and human health
safeguards.
Meanwhile,
the mining of some tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold vital for use in
the manufacture of mobile phones has been linked to bloody conflicts in
the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Jeff
Gearhart, research director at the Ecology Centre and founder of
HealthyStuff.org, said: 'Even the best phones from our study are still
loaded with chemical hazards.
'These
chemicals, which are linked to birth defects, impaired learning and
other serious health problems, have been found in soils at levels 10 to
100 times higher than background levels at e-waste recycling sites in
China.
'We
need better federal regulation of these chemicals, and we need to
create incentives for the design of greener consumer electronics.'
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