A landmark international study across five Central European countries has found hazardous chemicals in every single pair of headphones analysed, from premium models to cheap imports. Authors say the results reveal a systemic failure in consumer safety regulation across the electronics industry. The investigation, conducted as part of the EU-funded ToxFree LIFE for All project, analysed 180 samples of hard and soft plastic components from 81 headphone products marketed to children, teenagers, and adults in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, and Austria.
Does the article neither list the products or a link to the original paper?
There’s a hyperlink in OP comment (this one) that has the study linked through a download button.
This is a potentially interesting study but there is a key gap which is around the actual health risk.
The figures around safety mg/kg are to do with the rate the toxic materials leach out of an item, not the absolute concentration within the materials or artificial lab based maximum leach rates. The quoted 10 mg/kg is also not an actual limit:
10 mg/kg limit originally proposed by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).
The limit orignally proposed is not the same as the actual limit. As far as I can see it is 0.05mg/kg leach into food, 0.04mg/l for toys, and as far as I can see there are no other limits in place. They are essentially being restricted in food contacting materials and toys, and requiring clear labelleling in other uses: https://www.echa.europa.eu/hot-topics/bisphenols
What really matters is under what circumstances the “maximum concentrations of 351 mg/kg” were reached. If that is an artificial lab test with no relatability to real world situations then it’s meaningless. If that rate of leach occurs at body temperature with a bit of moisture then it’s very worrying. But even then the absolute amount of the bisphenols in the products also matters - for example it might be there amount mixed into the plastics in a ear bud is too small to actually be toxic to a human.
Without that information this feels like sensationalist reporting of the findings - the article is implying there is a health risk when there may be none, and they are also implying there is wrong doing or failure of the EU enforcement of its regulations when there may be none.
It is worth reading the disclaimer at the end; while their aims may be laudable they are not conducting independent research and it’s not clear their work is even peer reviewed. Instead this is a single issue lobbying group, part funded by EU funds, producing research with a political aim.
About ToxFree LIFE for All: The ToxFree LIFE for All project (LIFE22-GIE-HU-101114078) is an EU-funded initiative aimed at protecting citizens from hazardous chemical exposure through awareness, testing, and policy advocacy. Partners include VKI (Austria), Arnika (Czechia), dTest (Czechia), TVE (Hungary), and ZPS (Slovenia).
Funded by the EU Life Programme (LIFE22-GIE-HU-ToxFree LIFE for All, 101114078) and the Ministry of Environment of the Czech Republic. Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or other donors. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.Great comment, thanks.
Is this a “don’t lick the headphones” thing, or can these chemicals be absorbed through the skin?
Ok, the wikipedia page for bisphenol does mention skin absorption.
… goddamnit…
Product list starts on page 37.
It’s mildly annoying that they didn’t sort the list alphabetically. Also, they didn’t test AKG, which is what I use for studio headphones. Glad I just got some studio monitors, so now I only use my headphones for additional reference.
Thanks!
Reading through the study, not all samples contained unsafe levels of those chemicals. It’s interesting to note how many brand-name over-ear and in-ear headphones do, though, including products by Apple, Bose, Samsung and Sony.
Unfortunately, none of the headphones I own were on the list. The only IEMs they test are the KZ EDX, which do ok.
After searching the PDF, I only saw Apple listed for one product, and didn’t see any instances where it wasn’t “green”, so I’m not sure how clickbaity the article is (since I didn’t read the article itself)
“safe” level does not mean ineffective level. Maybe its not danger to health but it can still cause something bad. Maybe it accumulates in time, maybe it cases changes in the body that cause something slight that you wouldnt even think to link to this.
Btw, the silicone caps of in-ears are safe? Silicone is inert…
Biologically inert, used in surgical implants, I’m going with safe (certainly safer than the alternatives).
Except if it gets contanimated in production, which cheap caps could be…
Sure, you do what you can.
The headphones are turning the frogs gay!
Dang, the Bose QC are marked red. I use them daily as they are comfortable. Seems like most over the head headphones get hit hard.
Researchers discovered that nearly all headphones contain bisphenols, chemicals known to interfere with hormones.
Lol, that’s harmless compared to cosmetica.
yea, and also when compared to literally drinking poison or shooting yourself to the head. What does it matter regarding the issue at hand if there are other things that are also bad? What would you compare the cosmetica to when its time to consider the bad stuff that causes?
Don’t get me wrong, that’s also bad. But the legal stuff people put voluntarily on their face is worse. I only wanted to point out, that we judge them differently.
I see, then that is indeed part of the problem. If that isnt addressed then it could be used as excuse to not do anything to this problem too. Sorry, your comment just came off as whataboutism
