Since the emergence of airpods in the market in 2016, there have been a lot of stories and rumors around it causing cancer. Pretty much all of us wear some kind of earphone and we but what is the deal with AirPods and its relationship with cancer.
The Rumor that Airpods and other Bluetooth earphones can cause cancer was first mentioned by Markham Heid who is a Technoskeptic health and science writer on Medium. The article which he wrote and titled "Are Airpods and Other Bluetooth Headphone Safe?" quoted Jerry Phillips PhD who is a professor of Biochemistry at the University of Colorado. The professor highlighted that his concern about Airpods is the placement of the device in the ear canal which exposes the tissue of the head to relatively high level of radio-frequency radiation. He also went on to say that there have been existing health concern from all technologies that operate at radio frequencies.
Professor Phillips went ahead to say that asides cancer it can lead to cellular stress, increase harmful free radical, changes in the function and structure of the reproductive system, genetic damage, neurological disorders, and memory and learning deficits. Heid in his article then linked the risks to a petition from 244 scientists to the UN and WHO requesting for a call for protection from non-ionizing electromagnetic field exposure.
While I am not saying anything against it yet, we have seen lot of publication about activities and their relationship to cancer. We have read publications about prolonged sitting and watching televisions and its association to cancer, Eating bananas and cancer and a whole lot of things but going back to the petition, it issue raised goes beyond airpods and other Bluetooth headphones, it is looking at EMFs. So what's EMFs?
Everything with electric current has an invisible force field from computers, to phone, and almost every other thing that we use to do. Close the field is when it is strongest but as we go farther away, the field becomes weaker. So whenever there is an electric charge, there is an electromagnetic field following it consisting of Electric and Magnetic components. Electromagnetic radiation are emitted in different wave spectrum from low energy wavelength as in radio wave to high energy short wavelength as in X-ray and Gamma ray.
Electromagnetic waves are portrayed by media as dangerous and this is because some of the waves are dangerous like in Ionizing radiation which have enough energy and wavelength to remove ions from electron leading to chemical changes leading to burns, cancer, and death but not all electromagnetic radiation are non-ionizing radiation, waves like Radio wave, Microwave, Infrared radiation and visible light have long wavelength. At worst, they can only excite electrons in like heating substances.
On the issue of the airpods, they utilize Bluetooth which is a non-ionizing EMF in fact Radio wave which is the least of all kinds of radiation but then why is there a concern by societies? This is because, compared to research and legislation, technology and innovation seems to be moving in a faster pace. In most countries, they follow a guideline that was reviewed in 1998.
Companies producing telecommunication devices follow a specific absorption rate (SAR) and depending on the countries, they shouldn't go above 2W/Kg (10 gram of tissue) for the head and Torso and 4W/Kg (10 gram of tissue) for the limbs in Europe, and 1.6W/Kg (1 gram of tissue) for head and torso and 4W/Kg for limbs (10 gram of tissue) in Canada. For airpods, a pair produces 0.603W/Kg and other earbuds have below this.
According to Joel Moskowitz, Researches have shown that EMFs given off from Bluetooth Headphones can permeate the Blood Brain Barrier. There haven't been concluding results that EMF from these devices can cause cancer, and the study that found cancer in rats found them in male rats but there was an issue which is replication, as the study could not be replicated in other studies. According to the American Cancer Society, it is not clear to how this can cause cancer. Also take note that we are exposed to different EMFs at different place and time, so having a controlled study without other factors can be tricky.
Read More
https://www.businessinsider.com/do-airpods-cause-cancer-2019-3?r=US&IR=T
https://hypebeast.com/2019/3/apple-airpods-cancer-risk-study
https://africa.businessinsider.com/tech/tech-coffee-will-now-come-with-a-cancer-warning-in-california-heres-why-the-state/qy74h1y
https://www.thoughtco.com/definition-of-electromagnetic-radiation-605069
https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/bluetooth.htm#pt1
https://www.cdc.gov/radiation-health/about/non-ionizing-radiation.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/radiation/nonionizing_radiation.html
https://www.icnirp.org/cms/upload/publications/ICNIRPemfgdl.pdf
https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/emf
https://support.apple.com/en-ca/104989
https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/spectrum-management-telecommunications/en/learn-more/key-documents/published-documents
https://io9.gizmodo.com/meet-the-emf-meter-the-little-tool-that-ghost-hunters-5875212
https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/specific-absorption-rate-sar-cell-phones-what-it-means-you
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2019/635598
https://www.cancer.ca/en/prevention-and-screening/reduce-cancer-risk/make-informed-decisions/know-your-environment/emfs/?region=on
https://ec.europa.eu/health/scientific_committees/consultations/public_consultations/scenihr_consultation_19_en
https://www.who.int/peh-emf/about/WhatisEMF/en/index1.html
https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/brain.html
https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/specific-absorption-rate-sar-cell-phones-what-it-means-you
https://www.brainfacts.org/brain-anatomy-and-function/anatomy/2014/blood-brain-barrier
https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/blood-brain-barrier
https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/health-risks-safety/radiation/everyday-things-emit-radiation/power-lines-electrical-appliances.html#a4
