Can AirPods cause cancer?

“My concern for AirPods is that their placement in the ear canal exposes tissues in the head to relatively high levels of radio-frequency radiation,” says Jerry Phillips, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. He mentions tumors and other conditions associated with abnormal cell functioning as some of the potential risks. These risks are not restricted to AirPods. Existing evidence “indicates potential concerns for human health and development from all technologies that operate at radio frequencies,”

Phillips is not alone. Roughly 250 researchers from more than 40 countries have signed a petition to the United Nations and the World Health Organization expressing “serious concern” about the non-ionizing electromagnetic field (EMF), which is the kind of radiation emitted by wireless devices, including Bluetooth technologies.

Are AirPods and Other Bluetooth Headphones Safe?

Experts are at odds over the health impact of Bluetooth

Every week, the Nuance will go beyond the basics, offering a deep and researched look at the latest science and expert insights on a buzzed-about health topic.

Apple made waves in 2016 when it announced the newest iPhones wouldn’t have headphone ports. Most of Apple’s competitors — including Google and Samsung — have since followed suit. It’s still possible to connect wired headphones to these devices with an adapter, but ditching the headphone jack is viewed by many as an acknowledgment that Bluetooth won the battle for our ears.

You might assume, based on these industry moves, that the safety of Bluetooth was established long ago. That assumption is incorrect. Some experts who study wireless technologies have concerns about their health effects.

he says.

In the past, Apple spokespeople have responded to concerns about the AirPods with assurances that they comply with current safety guidelines.

Phillips is not alone. Roughly 250 researchers from more than 40 countries have signed a petition to the United Nations and the World Health Organization expressing “serious concern” about the non-ionizing electromagnetic field (EMF), which is the kind of radiation emitted by wireless devices, including Bluetooth technologies.

“My concern for AirPods is that their placement in the ear canal exposes tissues in the head to relatively high levels of radiofrequency radiation.”

“Numerous recent scientific publications have shown that EMF affects living organisms at levels well below most international and national guidelines,” the petition says. It mentions cancer, neurological disorders, and DNA damage as some of the possible harms that research has tied to EMF. It also points to findings from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which has determined that EMF is “possibly carcinogenic” to humans.

Along with Phillips, one of the petition’s U.S. signatories is Joel Moskowitz, the director of the Center for Family and Community Health at the University of California at Berkeley. Moskowitz says there’s very little research on Bluetooth specifically but that the broader research on EMF suggests the kinds of radiation these headphones and earbuds emit could produce negative health effects.

He mentions some of the health concerns raised in the petition — including neurological disorders and DNA damage — and says we should all be using more caution with these devices until more research is conducted. “We’re basically flying blind,” he says.

Other experts disagree and say that when all the research on EMF is pooled and analyzed, the data clearly indicate an absence of harm.

“There are many thousands of papers of varying quality and relevance to health that point in all sorts of directions,” says Kenneth Foster, a professor of bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania who has studied the effects of wireless radiation on human health. While you could cherry pick data that paint Bluetooth and other wireless technologies in a scary light, “these arguments have no credibility,” he says.

Foster points out that the WHO and other public health organizations have analyzed the literature on Bluetooth and wireless tech and haven’t found “any clear evidence for health hazards at exposure levels below international limits.”

Can AirPods cause cancer?

A group of around 250 EMF scientists has issued an international appeal to the UN and the WHO, calling for “protection from non-ionizing electromagnetic exposure.”

Based on peer-reviewed research, they said that they have serious concerns about our increasing exposure to the radiation emitted by electric and wireless devices.

And like any other modern gadget, AirPods and other Bluetooth earphones, like the Beats X and the new Samsung Galaxy Buds, for example, also emit electromagnetic field (EMF) radio frequencies.

AirPods, in general, are a big cause of concern since they are embedded within one’s ear canal when in use, directly exposing the inner ear to EMF radiation. The close proximity to the brain of their typical position is also alarming to many scientists.

According to the group’s UN appeal, numerous recent studies show that EMF exposure has these effects on living organisms:

increased cancer risk

cellular stress

increase in harmful free radicals

genetic damages

structural and functional changes of the reproductive system

learning and memory deficits

neurological disorders

negative impacts on general well-being in humans

This damage, they said, goes beyond humans. There is growing evidence that these also adversely affect both plant and animal life.

So should you use AirPods?

Wireless earbuds and headphones like the AirPods are definitely convenient and cool but all these warnings do make a lot of sense.

And since AirPods and other wireless earbuds and headphones are absolutely useless when not stuck in your ear canal or over your head, if you’re worried about their health risks, then you might want to stick with regular wired headphones hooked up via an adapter or a dongle.

If you’re concerned about the long-term effects of close proximity EMF radiation, sticking with the wire is the way to go for extended listening sessions. Pound for pound, wired headphones sound a whole lot better, too.