Report Finds All Headphones Tested Contain Hazardous Substances
The chemicals "may be migrating from the headphones into our body."
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If you are afraid of sleeping anywhere near your phone, these findings might make you want to go off the grid entirely. A report made for the ToxFree LIFE for All project found that headphones contain dangerous materials, and no, not only some no-name rip-offs.
All devices tested by researchers, including Bose, Panasonic, Samsung, and Sennheiser, had substances hazardous to human health in the plastics, such as "chemicals that can cause cancer, neurodevelopmental problems, and the feminisation of males," The Guardian writes.
This "market-wide failure" is the reason classes of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in consumer goods should be banned, the researchers urge, and manufacturers have to provide greater transparency about the contents of their products.
"These chemicals are not just additives; they may be migrating from the headphones into our body," said Karolína Brabcová, chemical expert at Arnika, part of the ToxFree LIFE for All project. "Daily use – especially during exercise when heat and sweat are present – accelerates this migration directly to the skin."
But don't rush to throw away all your headphones: there is no immediate health risk, Brabcová says. However, the long-term exposure is concerning. There is no 'safe' level for endocrine disruptors that mimic our natural hormones."
The increasing presence of headphones in our lives made the researchers explore 81 pairs of in-ear and over-ear headphones in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, and Austria, as well as from Shein and Temu. "Hazardous substances were detected in every product tested": Bisphenol A (BPA) appeared in 98% of samples, and its substitute, bisphenol S (BPS), was found in more than three-quarters.
"Synthetic chemicals used to stiffen plastic, BPA and BPS mimic the action of oestrogen inside organisms, causing a range of adverse effects including the feminisation of males, early onset puberty in girls, and cancer. Previous studies have shown that bisphenols can migrate from synthetic materials into sweat, and that they can be absorbed through the skin," The Guardian says.
Other concerning chemicals found were phthalates, reproductive toxins that can affect fertility, chlorinated paraffins, which have been linked to liver and kidney damage, and brominated and organophosphate flame retardants, which have similar endocrine-disrupting properties to bisphenols. Most of them, however, were present only in traces.
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