The Truth About Your AirPods | Bluetooth & EMF
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Transcript
00:00Hey, I'm Dr. Mike Warshawski,
00:02board-certified family medicine doctor.
00:04Welcome to another episode of Truth or Scare.
00:08On today's episode, the claim is
00:10wireless Bluetooth headphones are dangerous
00:13because they emit radiation that might cause brain cancer
00:16and AirPods are riskier than other types of headphones.
00:20Let's start with saying that all wireless devices,
00:23Wi-Fi routers, baby monitors, cell phones,
00:26video game consoles, smartwatches, headphones,
00:29and more emit EMFs, also known as electromagnetic fields,
00:34which are technically a type of radiation.
00:36Bluetooth technology uses radiation
00:39in order to connect one wireless device to another,
00:42such as headphones to an iPhone or laptop.
00:45EMFs actually exist on a frequency spectrum
00:48where frequency essentially means energy.
00:50And we can split these EMFs into two main categories
00:54based on that frequency.
00:56High-frequency EMFs are considered ionizing radiation.
01:00A lot of exposure to that kind of radiation
01:03can change human cell structure enough to cause cancer.
01:06X-ray machines, CT scans,
01:09they all emit low levels of ionizing radiation,
01:12which is why precautions are taken
01:14to use them as little as possible.
01:16UV light is also ionizing,
01:18which is why I always say wear sunscreen
01:21and avoid tanning beds your entire life.
01:23On the other hand, EMFs from very low to mid-frequency
01:28are non-ionizing radiation.
01:30Non-ionizing radiation does not have enough energy
01:34to directly damage cell DNA,
01:37which is what happens when cancer develops.
01:39However, with this claim,
01:41the theory is that low and moderate frequency EMFs
01:44might not be directly causing cellular DNA damage,
01:48but perhaps over time,
01:50because we're not just using these headphones
01:53for a second or two,
01:54that damage ultimately can arise.
01:56But what does the evidence tell us about all of this?
01:59To be honest, there haven't been direct studies
02:02on looking at the health impacts of radiation
02:04from Bluetooth headphones.
02:05Most of the research exploring the potential link
02:08between non-ionizing EMFs and cancer
02:11has focused on cell phones.
02:13And although cell phones and Bluetooth headphones
02:15both emit the same kind of non-ionizing radiation,
02:18Bluetooth headphones emit a lot less of it.
02:2110 to 400 times less, according to one 2019 study.
02:26And at this point, there are some experts
02:29that believe cell phones are a potential risk for cancer.
02:32And they've been quite vocal
02:33about their concerns for a while.
02:35Back in 2011, the International Agency
02:38for Research on Cancer,
02:39which is an agency within the WHO
02:42that evaluates cancer risks,
02:44classified radio frequency radiation from wireless devices
02:48as a possible carcinogen.
02:50The main evidence at the time
02:51was a large observational study
02:53that actually didn't find an overall increased risk
02:56of brain tumors from cell phone usage.
02:58But the study did find a statistical association,
03:01so a correlation, not causation,
03:02between malignant brain tumors called gliomas
03:05and those who had the highest levels of cell phone exposure.
03:08But researchers warned that the association was not strong
03:12and that the data was hard to make sense of
03:14because there's so many confounders,
03:16meaning other factors besides cell phone usage
03:19that could have explained
03:20why people ended up with brain cancer.
03:22Then in 2015, more than 200 scientists
03:25petitioned the World Health Organization
03:28and United Nations for stricter rules
03:30around non-ionizing EMFs
03:32and referenced the 2011 decision
03:35to classify it as a potential carcinogen.
03:37The scientists argued that radiation emissions
03:39from wireless devices might be harmful
03:42at levels deemed safe under the existing guidelines.
03:45The petition came on the heels of a study
03:47that showed the heaviest users of cell phones
03:49and cordless phones were somewhat more likely
03:52to be diagnosed with meningiomas,
03:54which is a type of slow-growing brain tumor.
03:57But the association was, again, too weak for researchers
04:00to conclude that cell phone use
04:02generally caused meningiomas.
04:04Some more recent studies have been done
04:06and they do suggest a link between cell phone usage
04:09and cancer or biological changes
04:11that might enable tumor formation,
04:13but all of them had flaws or substantial limitations,
04:16so the results have been framed as a reason
04:18to do more research and not as clear evidence
04:21that cell phone radiation is a risk factor for brain cancer.
04:24For example, one 2018 study found that high levels
04:28of radiofrequency radiation caused cancerous heart tumors
04:31in male rats and mice.
04:33The study certainly made headlines,
04:35but researchers said the results
04:36could not be generalized to humans.
04:38First of all, the way that the rodents
04:40were exposed to radiation in the study
04:42was not how we use cell phones,
04:44and at the end of the day, rats aren't people.
04:48It's a good first step,
04:50and maybe it'll guide further research,
04:51but it doesn't give us a clear answer as of yet.
04:54Moving on, in 2020, the FDA published a review
04:57of 125 studies exploring that potential link
05:01between radiofrequency radiation and cancer.
05:04They looked at a mix of animal research
05:06and observational studies on humans.
05:08They found no consistent pattern to support a link.
05:11There are good reasons to keep investigating
05:13these potential health risks of cell phones.
05:15They've evolved a lot since they became popular,
05:17and so has the way we use them.
05:19Also, we're no longer talking primarily about adults.
05:22Today, most kids have their own cell phones,
05:25and kids don't necessarily respond
05:27the same way as adults do when they're exposed
05:29to potential environmental health risks,
05:31like toxic chemicals or viruses,
05:33so maybe the same will go for EMF.
05:36It's important for scientific knowledge
05:37to keep up with this modern technology,
05:39so the call for more research isn't really a reason to panic.
05:43It's the responsible path forward.
05:45But let's go back to Bluetooth headphones,
05:46which became a bigger part of this whole conversation
05:49in 2019, when a Medium article that argued
05:52AirPods might be dangerous
05:54and referenced the 2015 WHO petition.
05:57The fact that the WHO petition
05:59had not specifically mentioned Bluetooth headphones
06:02didn't seem to even matter.
06:03The article came out the same year as AirPods did,
06:06so they were already in the spotlight.
06:08The Medium article also brought up the idea
06:10that the amount of radiation emitted by wireless devices
06:13isn't the only factor in their potential health effects.
06:15See, wireless tech emits short bursts
06:18of electromagnetic energy called pulses,
06:20which the article said might be able to cause cell damage
06:23at a lower intensity level than non-pulsing radiation could.
06:27One expert said this factor is ignored
06:29by government health agencies,
06:30and therefore isn't captured by safety guidelines.
06:33There's some rat research on electromagnetic pulses,
06:36but as far as human health goes,
06:38this is not exactly an evidence-based belief.
06:40But is someone out there actually making sure
06:43your headphones aren't blasting you with dangerous radiation?
06:46Yes.
06:47The Federal Communications Commission, or FCC,
06:50sets maximum exposure limits for radiation
06:53emitted from cell phones, cell phone towers,
06:56and all wireless devices sold in the US.
06:59These radiation limits are based
07:00on how much radio frequency energy
07:02can be safely absorbed into the body,
07:04and they're lower than what's been deemed safe in research.
07:09That means there's actually a built-in margin of safety.
07:11The rate at which you absorb radiation from a device
07:13is called its specific absorption rate.
07:16This rate is based on emissions measured from the device
07:20when it's operating at its highest possible power level.
07:23Specific absorption rates for Bluetooth headphones
07:26don't come anywhere near the FCC radiation limits.
07:29This is true no matter which brand or kind you have.
07:32AirPods have unfortunately been singled out
07:34as more dangerous than over-the-head Bluetooth headphones
07:38because they supposedly emit five times as much radiation
07:41and maybe that they sit directly inside your ear canal
07:44so they're closer to the brain.
07:45But the five times number, it's a myth.
07:48And the radiation from AirPods
07:49is well within the safe for use range.
07:52Recent models emit a maximum of 8%
07:55of the FCC radiation limit, and that's the safe limit.
07:58So 8% of the safe limit.
08:00That being said, skepticism around wireless devices
08:03is widespread enough that the FCC published suggestions
08:07for how to decrease radiation exposure from them,
08:10while also clarifying at the same time
08:12that the agency does not endorse any need
08:15to take reduction measures.
08:16But where does all of this leave us?
08:19You're exposed to non-ionizing radiation
08:21from so many devices in your life.
08:23It's all around you.
08:25Exposure from Bluetooth is just a small piece of that pie.
08:28Bluetooth worries were and are mainly based
08:31on the possibility of cell phones causing harm.
08:33And we currently don't have strong evidence
08:35that cell phones are harmful, at least in that sense.
08:37And the leap to Bluetooth is probably a huge one
08:40given that they release so much fewer EMF than cell phones.
08:43And that's because cell phones need to communicate
08:45with cell towers miles away.
08:47A Bluetooth device only needs enough radio frequency
08:50to connect with a phone or laptop that's in the other room.
08:52Less distance equals less energy and probably less damage.
08:56One thing about headphones though
08:58that understandably makes people uneasy
09:00is that it's common to wear them for hours on end
09:03and on a daily basis.
09:04So this heavy usage is typical behavior.
09:06And if there's any chance they're dangerous to use
09:09and you've been using them a lot,
09:10I can understand those implications can be scary.
09:13But remember that right now,
09:14studies about cell phones and cancer
09:16that have involved humans
09:18have not been able to support a causal link.
09:21While we can't say with 100% certainty that there isn't one,
09:24but it's a good thing when researchers keep looking
09:27for something bad and can't even find it.
09:29If you're nervous about radio frequency radiation exposure,
09:32you could always take AirPod breaks
09:34or alternate between wireless and wired headphones.
09:37In fact, it might be a good idea
09:39to spend more time headphone free and cell phone free
09:42for reasons unrelated to brain cancer fears,
09:45like the potential impact on your hearing
09:47and accident risk and cell phone addiction
09:50because that's a real thing.
09:51So on my truth or scare scale,
09:53where zero is complete BS and 10 is absolute truth,
09:57this claim gets a 3.5.
10:00Click here to check out my reaction
10:02to some of the Reddit's worst doctor interactions.
10:05Some of these were absolutely awful.
10:06Click here to check that out.
10:08And as always, stay happy and healthy.
10:10And as always, stay happy and healthy.