Clear Sound, Sleek Styling, and Microwave Radiation | California Magazine: Announced on September 7 along with the iPhone 7, the AirPods will be available starting in late October for $159. They will work with iPhones and iPads running iOS 10 and above, the Apple Watch, and Macs running the latest operating�system.
In response to Moskowitz’s concerns, Apple spokesperson Alex Kirschner said in an email: “Apple products are always designed and tested to meet or exceed all safety�requirements.”
The AirPods’ specific absorption rate (SAR), which measures how much radiation is absorbed by the body, is 0.466 watts per kilogram, well below the U.S. legal limit of 1.60 w/kg set by the Federal Communications Commission. It’s also below the 1.58 w/kg you would get from holding the iPhone 7 itself against your head or�body.
Jerry Phillips, a biochemistry professor at the University of Colorado who has studied health effects of radiation frequencies similar to Bluetooth, says that standard isn’t robust. The SAR safety levels were based on the assumption that radiation from sources like Bluetooth, WiFi, and cell phones was safe unless it heated tissue. “That’s been shown to be absolute nonsense. Biological effects have been shown at very low SARs to the point where there is no measurable increase in heat,” Phillips says. He adds that we don’t know whether effects of exposure could add up over�time.
Based on his own research, Phillips is concerned that, along with permeating the blood-brain barrier, AirPods and other devices could damage DNA. Some of his research was funded by Motorola, which he says asked him not to release his results and stopped funding his work after he published a major paper on the�topic.
“What bothers me the most about AirPods is it’s taking cell phones one step deeper into the head. It’s a significant amount of power being delivered even closer to the brain. It just doesn’t make sense,” he�says.
Not all scientists agree. Kenneth Foster, a bioengineering professor at the University of Pennsylvania, says that many studies did not find that radio-frequency radiation affected the blood-brain barrier. “The health agencies that have evaluated this simply haven’t found any problems at exposure levels that were even higher than Bluetooth,” Foster says. “If someone is concerned for any reason, good or bad, they should take precautions, but I don’t think the evidence is strong enough for a health expert to stand up and say we should be�cautious.”
John Moulder, who taught radiation oncology at the Medical College of Wisconsin and published a paper about the health effects of WiFi with Foster, says AirPods are unlikely to pose health risks, especially because the Bluetooth transmitter hangs down from the ear. “I don’t see any real possibility of brain exposure at all, let alone an exposure high enough to get in the credible range of the blood-barrier effect,” he says. “There’s no biological or physical basis for concern about exposure levels this low, especially if it’s not transmitting most of the�time.”
(Kirschner at Apple confirmed that the AirPods, like other Bluetooth headsets, will constantly transmit signals while they are in your�ears.)
Foster and Moulder have received research funding from the Wi-Fi Alliance and the Mobile Manufacturers Forum, trade groups whose members include Apple, Samsung Electronics, and other cell phone manufacturers. They said the funders did not influence their research. Moulder has also served as an industry�consultant.
U.S. regulators, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Communications Commission and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, say that available science has not definitively linked exposure to radiation from Bluetooth, WiFi, and cell phones with health problems. “If there is a risk from being exposed to radio-frequency energy from cell phones—and at this point we do not know that there is—it is probably very small,” according to the FDA�website.
Major recent studies have sent mixed signals. In 2010, a 13-country study from the World Health Organization found no overall elevated risk for two types of brain tumors after 10 years of cell phone use. However, it did find an increased risk of glioma, an aggressive brain tumor, in the very heaviest�users.
In 2011, after looking at dozens of peer-reviewed studies, the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified cell phone radiation as “possibly carcinogenic” to humans. The same year, one of the largest studies of cell phone users ever, which included nearly 360,000 people in Denmark, found that long-term use did not increase the risk of brain tumors, but it did not rule out an elevated risk for those who used cell phones for more than 10 or 15 years. The study looked at the length of cell phone subscriptions rather than actual�use.
In response to Moskowitz’s concerns, Apple spokesperson Alex Kirschner said in an email: “Apple products are always designed and tested to meet or exceed all safety�requirements.”
The AirPods’ specific absorption rate (SAR), which measures how much radiation is absorbed by the body, is 0.466 watts per kilogram, well below the U.S. legal limit of 1.60 w/kg set by the Federal Communications Commission. It’s also below the 1.58 w/kg you would get from holding the iPhone 7 itself against your head or�body.
Jerry Phillips, a biochemistry professor at the University of Colorado who has studied health effects of radiation frequencies similar to Bluetooth, says that standard isn’t robust. The SAR safety levels were based on the assumption that radiation from sources like Bluetooth, WiFi, and cell phones was safe unless it heated tissue. “That’s been shown to be absolute nonsense. Biological effects have been shown at very low SARs to the point where there is no measurable increase in heat,” Phillips says. He adds that we don’t know whether effects of exposure could add up over�time.
Based on his own research, Phillips is concerned that, along with permeating the blood-brain barrier, AirPods and other devices could damage DNA. Some of his research was funded by Motorola, which he says asked him not to release his results and stopped funding his work after he published a major paper on the�topic.
“What bothers me the most about AirPods is it’s taking cell phones one step deeper into the head. It’s a significant amount of power being delivered even closer to the brain. It just doesn’t make sense,” he�says.
Not all scientists agree. Kenneth Foster, a bioengineering professor at the University of Pennsylvania, says that many studies did not find that radio-frequency radiation affected the blood-brain barrier. “The health agencies that have evaluated this simply haven’t found any problems at exposure levels that were even higher than Bluetooth,” Foster says. “If someone is concerned for any reason, good or bad, they should take precautions, but I don’t think the evidence is strong enough for a health expert to stand up and say we should be�cautious.”
John Moulder, who taught radiation oncology at the Medical College of Wisconsin and published a paper about the health effects of WiFi with Foster, says AirPods are unlikely to pose health risks, especially because the Bluetooth transmitter hangs down from the ear. “I don’t see any real possibility of brain exposure at all, let alone an exposure high enough to get in the credible range of the blood-barrier effect,” he says. “There’s no biological or physical basis for concern about exposure levels this low, especially if it’s not transmitting most of the�time.”
(Kirschner at Apple confirmed that the AirPods, like other Bluetooth headsets, will constantly transmit signals while they are in your�ears.)
Foster and Moulder have received research funding from the Wi-Fi Alliance and the Mobile Manufacturers Forum, trade groups whose members include Apple, Samsung Electronics, and other cell phone manufacturers. They said the funders did not influence their research. Moulder has also served as an industry�consultant.
U.S. regulators, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Communications Commission and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, say that available science has not definitively linked exposure to radiation from Bluetooth, WiFi, and cell phones with health problems. “If there is a risk from being exposed to radio-frequency energy from cell phones—and at this point we do not know that there is—it is probably very small,” according to the FDA�website.
Major recent studies have sent mixed signals. In 2010, a 13-country study from the World Health Organization found no overall elevated risk for two types of brain tumors after 10 years of cell phone use. However, it did find an increased risk of glioma, an aggressive brain tumor, in the very heaviest�users.
In 2011, after looking at dozens of peer-reviewed studies, the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified cell phone radiation as “possibly carcinogenic” to humans. The same year, one of the largest studies of cell phone users ever, which included nearly 360,000 people in Denmark, found that long-term use did not increase the risk of brain tumors, but it did not rule out an elevated risk for those who used cell phones for more than 10 or 15 years. The study looked at the length of cell phone subscriptions rather than actual�use.