Apple took a hit today after testing by the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) showed excessive levels of phthalates in iPhone and iPod headphone cords.
Wired’s blog network quotes CEH director Michael Green as saying that “Apple customers should know that when they get their hands on an iPhone they may be getting a dose of toxic chemicals as well.” However, the CEH also claims that their beef is not with the levels of PVC in the products, but with Apple’s failure to label those thousands of iProducts with a warning.
You may be familiar with U.S. standards for food product labeling—but labeling products for potential hazards is a serious matter as well. This error of omission is actually considered to be a kind of product defect, more specifically referred to as a “warning defect.” Warning defects refer to products that do have sufficient warnings or instructions for use and which injure consumers. It is this law that explains the seemingly obvious warnings on irons (“Do not iron clothes while wearing”) and other products.
Does the iPod fall under the defective products label?
CEH intends to decide just that with their most recent legal push
against Apple, which follows the Greenpeace condemnation of those same
phthalates.
If you are an iPod or iPhone user who is concerned about the detrimental effects of these chemical levels on your health, keep an eye on this case. While it’s unlikely that phthalates will negatively impact your health (as they will pose more of a risk to the environment itself when they are inevitably replaced or disposed of), you may have a chance to be involved in a defective products class action lawsuit.
by Kate Beall
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