Environmental watchdog group Greenpeace International has launched an aggressive campaign warning consumers of hazardous chemicals used in Apple's wildly popular iPhone.

Scientists at the Greenpeace Research Laboratories in Britain found iPhones analyzed in their labs tested positive for reactive brominated flame retardants and phthalates plasticisers.

Greenpeace says some of the chemicals are labeled in Europe as "toxic to reproduction" and interfere with sexual reproduction in mammals.

"Phthalate is a chemical that is hormone destructive, therefore it will affect the immune system and the reproductive system," Greenpeace International spokesperson Zeina Alhajj told CTV Newsnet on Tuesday from Amsterdam.

None of the four phthalates found in the study are permitted for use in components of toys or childcare articles sold in Europe.

While iPhones themselves are not harmful, Alhajj cautioned that PVC chemicals may become hazardous, depending on how consumers use the product.

"The headphone cables had 1.5 per cent by weight phthalate in it. People sometimes chew on these cables and this is the risk that we are raising," Alhajj said.

"High levels of phthalate in children's toys were banned because children suck on these toys, which is the reason why they were banned within countries in the EU and within certain states in the United States."

The Apple iPhone is not classified as a toy within the European Union.

Greenpeace is campaigning for the use of such chemicals to be barred from all electronics products, saying that people who handle electronic waste are adversely affected.

"What we have seen from the electronic devices, that when they end up becoming waste and they are trashed in countries like China, India or Africa, people who are trashing these devices are inhaling or are subject to these hazardous chemicals and therefore it is affecting them and the environment around them," Alhajj said.

Apple is refuting the claims, adding that the company is at the forefront of environmental practices to eliminate the use of potentially harmful chemicals.

A recent document entitled "A Greener Apple" from Apple co-founder Steve Job states:

"Apple has been criticized by some environmental organizations for not being a leader in removing toxic chemicals from its new products, and for not aggressively or properly recycling its old products. Upon investigating Apple's current practices and progress towards these goals, I was surprised to learn that in many cases Apple is ahead of, or will soon be ahead of, most of its competitors in these areas.

The document goes on to detail Apple's current environmental initiatives including its campaign to phase out the use of brominated flame retardants and PVC's.

"Apple began phasing out PVC twelve years ago and began restricting BFRs in 2001. For the past several years, we have been developing alternative materials that can replace these chemicals without compromising the safety or quality of our products. Today, we've successfully eliminated the largest applications of PVC and BFRs in our products, and we're close to eliminating these chemicals altogether."

Apple plans to completely eliminate the use of PVC and BFRs in its products by the end of 2008, but Greenpeace says this is not soon enough.

"We know that other companies have eliminated (PVCs). There are no PVCs used, for example, in mobile phones for Nokia. A leader of innovation like Apple should take leadership and not just in design but in the environment," Alhjj said.