Jay☀️🏹You better check your headphones to see if they are infecting your body with toxic chemicals. Even brand like Sony, Apple and Samsung aren't fully safe. 👇🏻
Marianne@Luminous_J well, it's the daily mail, so generally ignore that
Toxic chemicals don't 'infect' bodies.
Toxicity isn't going to happen from your earphones.
Don't worry about this, not even a little.
@noodlemaz
It's actually all over the web, and the source is an extensive scientific research.
Here's a more 'reputable' source👇🏻
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/18/hazardous-substances-headphones
John Ulrik@Luminous_J @noodlemaz The original study is here: https://arnika.org/en/publications/download/2128_f40ae4eb2e63e4dc3205035fb376d8e3 (PDF, 6.4 MB)
@ujay68 @Luminous_J that's a policy paper, not a (peer reviewed, academic) study. They're referencing studies about consumption to make claims about contact.
Laughably, they've included parts that do not contact the skin - presumably because it makes their case look less weak.
And look, I'm all for regulating companies so they can't get away with heinous things. Reducing overconsumption and improving quality is good. But this won't do that. It's chemophobia, some of the orgs have v questionable agendas (again the focus on 'EDCs', testosterone levels and male foetal development are 🚩)
Papers reporting this as if it's a piece of science and not policy-change/lobbying work (which is allowed! But it's not as scientific as an actual study) are *misleading people*. That's my issue. Causing needless worry and misrepresenting research.
@noodlemaz Full ack. Still seems to be a good impulse to have a closer look at this product category. With more scientific rigour. Other categories like thermal paper or plastic water bottles and food containers or tin/can coatings have been under scrutiny for a long time.
@ujay68 well yes, we drink out of it water bottles so that makes sense. There's a huge difference between ingesting stuff out of something and just occasionally wearing things.
Sure, happy to look at any later work. But the breathless regurgitating of this group's press release as if it's anything is just another example of churnalism, it's not helpful to health and it erodes public trust in science.