Apple is tweaking: AirPods can give you cancer, groups of scientists say

Okay — we get it now.

Although expensive, easy to lose, and what seems is another way for Apple to squeeze money out of us, AirPods are just cool. They make you feel luxurious and give you that rare experience of what it feels to look down on someone.

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But what if I told you AirPods can give you cancer?

According to a report compiled by 250 scientists around the world, the electromagnetic frequency (EMF) in remote-capable consumer products emits specific radio signals that can cause cancer.

According to the report, such products include  “cellular and cordless phones and their base stations, Wi-Fi, broadcast antennas, smart meters, and baby monitors as well as electric devices and infrastructures used in the delivery of electricity that generates an extremely-low-frequency electromagnetic field (ELF EMF).”

It also echos the sentiments that Jerry Phillips, a biochemistry professor Ph.D. from the University of Colorado, stated in a Medium article last week.

According to the professor, Bluetooth and wireless headphones, such as your beloved AirPods, could cause high levels of radiation to the user due to the close proximity in which they’re worn to the ear canal.

“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 Philips.

“Effects include 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, and negative impacts on general well-being in humans,” Phillips continued.

I mean, it doesn’t sound farfetched and actually makes a lot of sense when you think about how we treat any other kind of wave frequency — microwaves have long been banned in my house and my ears are still ringing from my parents yelling at me not to sit too close to the television when I was a kid.

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Why would it be different from the EMF waves in wireless devices?

The issue is so much a concerning that the Colorado professor has teamed up alongside other groups of experts to sign a petition to the United Nations and World Health Organization expressing “serious concern” about the risks and a strengthening of the pre-existing guidelines.

While there have been studies debunking the theory of the ills of these EMF waves, there’s also been credited aficionados, like another professor within the field (from the University of Pennsylvania), also states that the arguments have no credibility.

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

They have yet to release a statement since the study.