More than 200 scientists from 42 countries have filed a petition to the United Nations (UN) and the World Health Organization, asking for stricter guidelines and regulatory standards regarding AirPods and other Bluetooth earbuds that could increase the risk of cancer.
“Based upon peer-reviewed, published research, we have serious concerns regarding the ubiquitous and increasing exposure to EMF generated by electric and wireless devices.
Numerous recent scientific publications have shown that EMF affects living organisms at levels well below most international and national guidelines,” states the petition, which also casts serious shade at the WHO.
This is exactly the type of news no one wants to hear, especially if they recently bought wireless earbuds.
“The various agencies setting safety standards have failed to impose sufficient guidelines to protect the general public, particularly children who are more vulnerable to the effects of EMF.
By not taking action, the WHO is failing to fulfill its role as the preeminent international public health agency.”
One of the scientists who signed their name on it, a professor of biochemistry, told Medium that AirPods’ “placement in the ear canal exposes tissues in the head to relatively high levels of radio-frequency radiation.”
This is not the first time that researchers raise such an alarm. In 2016, a similar complaint was met with Apple’s assurance that its products “are always designed and tested to meet or exceed all safety requirements.”
Other companies did not comment.
Also read: ✍Over 400K People Signed Up For The Apple Watch Heart Study✍
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Walt French
March 29, 2019 at 12:39 am
As a former broadcast engineer, I’ve been following similar concerns—high-voltage lines, wifi and now BlueTooth—for decades.
As a son & sibling of a couple of biochemists, I’m glad the field keeps pushing the envelope of what we know.
But I’m hugely disappointed at the petitioners for saying there “may be some effect” without commenting on the huge number of safety studies, the fact that serious effects haven’t jumped out at us despite billions of people using these devices daily, the fact that the most recent and comprehensive (mouse-based) study I’ve seen has yet to resolve the conundrum that mice exposed to cellphone radio waves actually lived LONGER, suggesting randomness plays a more important role than radio waves.
Based on these many, many studies and our general health, radio waves must have a tiny impact on health, if any; it would take increasingly huge studies to find harm. The petitions or other statements of concern ought to acknowledge the fact that ZERO-POINT-ZERO-ZERO-ZERO… harm can NEVER be proven, and the latest studies have already put an upside cap on how much harm they DO cause.
Yes, it would be significant if we discovered new impacts that are outside the way we already know that radio affects us. (Like sunbathing, it warms us…a teeny bit. Unlike sunbathing, there’s no known mechanism by which it causes sunburn damage or cancer.)
I’m OK with keeping up spending on research. But let’s understand that the benefit is most likely to come via insight into how our bodies work, while not protecting us from brain cancer or similar harms that haven’t been seen above random background rates.