Are AirPods Strong Enough to Fry Your Brain?

air pods love them or hate them they've become one of the top tech accessories for Apple's crazy popular iPhone series but just because something is popular doesn't mean it's safe and since their release in 2016 there have been concerns that ear pods could be detrimental to your health with the newly released ear pods Pro it seems that claims about air pods causing cancer have resurfaced what's the source of these claims and the panic that ensues and what can air pods actually do to your brain well slip on those air paws and listen close because today we're going to be digging deep and sound out the science and secrets behind these devices [Music] [Music] we're looking at a topic today that involves a wildly popular gadget this is meant to be an unbiased exploration of a topic that involves health concerns surrounding wireless in-ear headphones we're not telling you not to use these devices pretty much all of us are wearing some sort of headphones all day every day we just want to dig into the topic and see what's there and with that out of the way let's get into it Merry Christmas Grill girl girl it's what I just finished my first day at the mall and I thought that a good boy I I mean a boy like you deserves a present oh goody is it duct tape for your mouth even better earbuds I am not wearing DOS you know how I feel about Apple and the trendy fashion technology well see yourself I'll keep them then so what's the big issue wait huh according to Business Insider the rumor that air pods and other Bluetooth headphones could cause cancer stem from an article written by Markham hide techno skeptic health and science writer on mediums elemental publication the article quotes Gerry Phillips PhD a professor of biochemistry at the university of colorado saying my concern for air pods is that their placement in the ear canal exposes tissue in the head to relatively high levels of radiofrequency radiation and that this is not limited to air pods existing evidence indicates potential concerns for human health and development from all technologies that operate at radio frequencies Phillips is also quoted in a hypebeast article about the issue effects include increased cancer risk cellular stress increase in harmful free radicals genetic damages structural and functional changes to the reproductive system learning and memory deficits neurological disorders and negative impacts on general well-being in humans Hyde's article cites Phillips mentioning tumors and other conditions associated with abnormal cell functioning as some of the potential risks heids article link these risks to a petition from 244 scientists urging the United Nations and the w8 show to enact greater health protections from being exposed to devices that create electromagnetic fields this petition is the International EMF scientists appeal written by scientists engaged in the study of biological and health effects of electromagnetic fields also known as EMF in the words of Elizabeth Kelly the director of the International EMF scientists appeal EMF scientists have serious concerns regarding the ubiquitous and increasing exposure to radiation from wireless devices and antennas from all sources including the Paul's digital signals Bluetooth transmits the petition classifies these radiofrequency radiation emitting devices as cellular in cordless phones and their base stations Wi-Fi and broadcast antennas smart meters and baby monitors as well as electric devices and infrastructures used in the delivery of electricity that generates extremely low frequency electromagnetic field we've seen the same cancer risk scare pop up for everything from prolonged sitting while watching TV to eating bananas well the actual parallels being drawn here seem to include a lot more than just air pods and other bluetooth headphones so what's the connection between wireless earbuds and all these other devices to understand the concerns these scientists are raising we first have to define electromagnetic fields or shortly EMFs this gets a little technical so let's drop into another exciting episode of science with brew yay science to briefly explain am apps imagine that there's an invisible force field surrounding everything with an electric current your computer your phone you the earth and Howard and if we could see this field it might look a little like this next to Howard the field is the strongest that it's going to be but as we back away from it this field grows exponentially weaker wherever there is an electric charge or current there is an electromagnetic field of force that surrounds it consisting of both electric and magnetic components electromagnetic radiation can be emitted at a whole spectrum of wavelengths ranging from low energy long wavelength radio waves to high-energy short wavelength raise it's important to mention that light is also a form of electromagnetic radiation and makes up just a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum electromagnetic radiation is perceived to be a very scary thing in mainstream media because some of it actually is this harmful radiation is called ionizing radiation x-rays gamma rays and other ionizing radiation have enough energy / short enough wavelengths to remove electrons from atoms which means it can cause chemical changes to substances these chemical changes to a person's living tissue can result in burns cancer and death however most electromagnetic radiation is non ionizing radiation radio waves microwaves infrared radiation and visible light all do not have enough energy to chemically change substances and harm living tissue the worst non ionizing radiation can do is excite electrons and thus heating substances now that we understand EMFs are on a spectrum ranging from harmless to fatal let's touch on the other half of this issue air pods and how they work well that's obvious right you grab your air pod case put a next to your phone open it push a button and you're connected I mean that's the really simple answer but how does that work with Bluetooth Bluetooth is a technology that lets devices like your phone and headphones communicate across radio frequencies by sending signals to each other and is one of our a four mentioned non ionizing EMFs keep in mind that radio frequencies are the lowest form of radiation surely there has to be some kind of guideline for the level of EMF so you can be safely exposed to right there is while every country sets their own standards for what is considered safe most of them are based off a set of guidelines established in 1974 by the ICN IRP or the International Commission of non ionizing radiation protection these guidelines were also last updated in 1998 that's more than twenty years ago also known as an eternity in tech time or visualized that's the difference between this oh goodness and this Oh Oh No oh wait look at that hat he has a hat now I love it it seems like technology moves faster than the research and legislation can keep up with so naturally the question will come up our guidelines written in the late 90s still relevant today are they even being followed anymore is there any way to measure how much EMF radiation are being exposed to well some people tackled that last question with a little device called an EMF reader an EMF reader is a device that detects electromagnetic fields in the area specifically for finding wiring issues though they are also used by concerned members of the public to measure the EMF s produced by their devices on the other hand the values that EMF readers can detect don't really mean much lecher magnetic fields can have their values swayed by magnets and when we're talking about wireless headphones it's important to note they do have magnets in them all headphones do also the further you are the field strength for both electric and magnetic fields that can be measured by an EMF reader decreases Oh also my research shows that EMF readers are one of the best tools to find ghosts that goes hunters swear by who you gonna call enter unit called a specific absorption rate or SAR a measurement of the rate at which radiation from a device is absorbed by your skin in watts per kilogram the FCC gets SAR level readings using a test that places the device that's being tested against a model human head called standard anthropomorphic model filled with a mixture of water sugar electrolytes and additives to simulate our squishy a nerds then places a robotic controlled sensor against different spots to measure the absorption rate there are regulations on the maximum SAR rating that wireless devices can have the exact values vary based on region in Europe the max is two watts per kilogram for the head and torso and four watts per kilogram for the limbs in Canada the limit for the head is 1.6 watts per kilogram per 1 gram of tissue and 4 for the limbs per 10 grams of tissue and in the United States the limit is just a flat 1.6 watts per kilogram for cellular phones to be sold in any of these markets wireless devices must be tested and found to not exceed these SAR levels according to the FCC informational database the maximum recorded exposure rate for a pair of air SPRO was 0.60 three weights per kilogram I'm sorry okay happen that big here just for a second just earpods pro why not air pod pros it's the pluralization I know I know okay yeah alright nevermind let's compare that to the other devices the iPhone 11 pro max was measured at one point 16 watts per kilogram in the head region and one point 17 watts per kilogram for the body so the air pods Pro gives you a little over half the exposure that this new iPhone would but you likely don't have a phone costly taped to your face comparing that to a few other wireless earphones the beats x by dre registered a maximum of 0.4 61 watts per kilogram in the head region and the samsung gear icon x registered a maximum of 0.02 8 watts per kilogram that leaves the SAR of air pods pro quite high there is one thing I should mention here according to the FCC these numbers don't measure the average RF exposure that users would be exposed to but instead the maximum possible exposure which leaves us with the big question our ear pods actually harmful to your brain according to the FCC the allowed standards for maximum exposure figures are well below the point that any adverse health effects could occur and our brain is capable of protecting itself to some degree a network of tissue blood vessels create a physical barrier that's called the blood-brain barrier or the BBB for short I'm gonna stick to BBB because blood brain barrier sounds like some kind of yugioh attack like a trap card or something you're finished Joey Dark Magician attack his life points directly let's get into it silly yo you've activated my trap guy blood you've got nothing on me now Yugi and that's where you're wrong Joey because I still have my ultimate monster kuriboh the BBB let's important things like nutrients pass through while blocking out unwanted foreign substances like bacteria or pathogens but in some cases can react negatively to wanted foreign substances like life-saving medicine this barrier may be enough to keep most bacteria out but it's not infallible the BBB can be broken down by a number of factors including high blood pressure high concentrations of substances in the blood brain trauma infection or prolonged exposure to microwaves and radiation and radiation as I mentioned before includes EMFs according to Joel Moskowitz director of the Center for Family and Community Health at the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley more than a dozen studies have shown that the EMF given off from Bluetooth headphones can permeate the BBB we can't say with certainty that these devices are dangerous but based on the research that has been done on similar types of radiation there's good reason to think this is going to be problematic in the long term but that's only one side of the story remember the letter from the 244 scientists as Business Insider's Hilary brew ik pointed out the appeal was in regards to electromagnetic frequencies in general in fact the letter in question didn't specifically mention Bluetooth devices or headphones and according to the American Cancer Society the largest studies on the kind of frequencies there are concerns about haven't found any direct link the study that found cancer development in rats only found it in the brains of male rats and these findings couldn't be replicated in other studies but that's just rats what about in humans well for a proper study you need a test group and as the American Cancer Society itself put it it's not clear how electromagnetic fields can increase cancer risk plus because we're all exposed to different amounts of these fields at different times the issue has been hard to study besides I've done the research and humans are not rats [Music] and according to the National Cancer Institute in the US the Canadian Cancer Society the World Health Organization as well as the European Union's Scientific Committee on emerging and newly identified health risks there is no consistent evidence that electromagnetic fields can increase the risk of cancer and at this time the w-h-o has concluded that current evidence does not confirm the existence of any health consequences from exposure to low-level electromagnetic fields however some gaps in knowledge about biological effects exist and need further research maybe all the noise about this topic is just another case of our good friend correlation and causation if we look at the chart for cases of brain cancer in the u.s. between 1992 and 2016 we can see wait no this is actually trending down huh so good news for airpot users to quote Michael shoulder director of northwell health brain tumor Center in Lake Success New York there has not been a major bump in tumors to suggest that cellphones are causing it and we know that the Bluetooth radiation is less than the cellphones themselves but with all that said according to see Matt it was recently found that some older smartphones may be emitting higher SAR levels than the allowed limit by several orders of magnitude as such the FCC will be re-evaluating and retesting the devices like with so many other new technologies against all research and evidence it may be too soon to definitively say whether or not Bluetooth headphones like ear pods are harmful for you in any way but here's the thing there are electromagnetic fields well basically everywhere it's too pervasive to really ever avoid in the words of dr. Michael shoulder we cannot avoid radiation in our lives even if we live to completely pastoral existence off the grid but I get it it's natural to be wary of change and what we don't understand something it's easy to fall back into our hunter-gatherer nature and see that rustling in the bush as a lion if you're still concerned well just don't use them just know that wired headphones will generate EMF stew and if you want to wear your air pods go right ahead with all the other rich people I want a book right here with a big ribbon on his head and I'm straight in the eye I'm gonna tell him what a cheap lying no-good lowlife sneaking in

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Id: Dl-opGXqUyg

Length: 15min 12sec (912 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 19 2019