Tech geeks and Apple enthusiasts alike still have a few weeks before they can pitch their tents in front of Apple retail stores nationwide as the company announced yesterday that the iPhone 4 will be released on June 24.
Among the litany of innovative features included in the new model, perhaps the most absurd is its “environmental checklist,” which promises that the iPhone 4 is arsenic-free, BFR-free, mercury-free, and PVC-free. ACSH’s Dr. Elizabeth Whelan comments, “Bragging about no arsenic only further feeds chemophobia. The whole pitch of stating ‘no this’ or ‘no that’ makes you really start to question if you're supposed to be eating these products, or what?”
ACSH’s Jeff Stier, an avid iPhone user, calls the checklist “ridiculous. Bill Gates did the same thing 6 or 7 years ago cleansing phthalates from Microsoft keyboards. When you say a product has ‘no arsenic’ or ‘no flame retardants,’ you’re not talking about ecology, you’re talking about a fear of chemicals. Steve Jobs is just trying to sell iPhones to people who fear trace levels of chemicals.”