Hazardous Substances Found In All Headphones Tested By ToxFREE Project (theguardian.com)
- Reference: 0180834400
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/02/21/0056213/hazardous-substances-found-in-all-headphones-tested-by-toxfree-project
- Source link: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/18/hazardous-substances-headphones
> You wear them at work, you wear them at play, you wear them to relax. You may even get sweaty in them at the gym. But [1]an investigation into headphones has found every single pair tested [2]contained substances hazardous to human health , including chemicals that can cause cancer, neurodevelopmental problems and the feminization of males. [...] Researchers say that while individual doses from particular sources may be low, a "cocktail effect" of daily, multi-source exposure nevertheless poses potentially severe long-term risks to health. [...]
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> Researchers bought 81 pairs of in-ear and over-ear headphones, either on the market in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Austria, or from the online marketplaces Shein and Temu, and took them for laboratory analysis, testing for a range of harmful chemicals. "Hazardous substances were detected in every product tested," they said. 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 feminization 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.
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> "Given the prolonged skin contact associated with headphone use, dermal exposure represents a relevant pathway, and it is reasonable to assume that similar migration of BPA and its substitutes may occur from headphone components directly to the user's skin," the researchers said. Also found in the headphones tested were phthalates, potent reproductive toxins that can impair 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 were, however, found in only trace quantities.
[1] https://arnika.org/en/publications/the-sound-of-contamination
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/18/hazardous-substances-headphones
Re: (Score:2)
You get shocks in your ear from headphones? That's weird AF, I've had a lot of headphones, most of them were crap, and none of them ever did that to me even once. Maybe stop plugging them into the mains?
This is bullshit! (Score:2)
This is Bullshit! The dose is the poison. And the dose is too low.
Re: (Score:2)
> This is Bullshit! The dose is the poison. And the dose is too low.
The clickbait is the poison.
Fucking hell do I hate it when people never consider root cause. It allows poison makers to thrive.
silicone socks (Score:2)
All of the high-end earbuds and lots of the low-end ones have silicone ear pieces. Some of them are even uncolored.
Re: silicone socks (Score:2)
I though this was going to be a fleshlight related comment.
Do not eat the headphones, (Score:3)
Do not eat the headphones,
Do not grind the headphones into a fine powder and the inhale it.
Do not put powdered headphones into jockstrap.
Got it. Sounds like every other Safety Data Sheet. (Formerly material data safety sheet, or MSDS).
Soy Boys Explained? (Score:2, Troll)
It seems like this might explain the soy boy explosion. But, they seem to have tapered off a bit, Does that mean that they aren't wearing headphones as much, anymore?
In other news... (Score:2)
All headphones likely also contain "chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth anomalies, or other reproductive harm."
Maybe there's actually an issue here. But a group calling itself the "ToxFREE Project" strikes me as to be far more like the State of California and its Proposition 65 warnings than an objective observer.
Prolonged headphone use? (Score:3)
These chemicals are present in many stiff plastics. Most stiff plastics do *NOT* touch your body. In fact headphone manufacturers go out of their way to make sure stiff plastics don't touch your body because when they do they are uncomfortable.
Tell me what chemicals are in the fake pleather cover of the ear foam, or the headband foam. Everything else is irrelevant.
*This post brought to you by the dose of chemicals picked up from the plastic stiffener used in my keyboard*.
Re:Prolonged headphone use? (Score:4, Interesting)
> Tell me what chemicals are in the fake pleather cover of the ear foam, or the headband foam. Everything else is irrelevant.
Generally, the softer the plastic, the more plasticizers have been added. Plasticizers are usually the chemicals of concern, because they are often endocrine disrupters.
I'm pretty sure these plasticizers routinely leach out of headphone pads because the pads on every pair of headphones I've owned over the past 40 years has gotten brittle and disintegrated after a few years of use.
Good opportunity for an entrepreneur. (Score:2)
Start making nice kid leather ear pads for over the ear headphones.
Re: (Score:2)
What chemicals are in your leather?
Re: Good opportunity for an entrepreneur. (Score:2)
Urine and brains.
Can we stop posting these "freak out" articles (Score:2)
Unless they can quantity the effects and actually say what happens if I wear these? There are many chemicals that are detectable but don't have much of an affect.
Takeaway: Don't eat headphones (Score:3)
Most of these harmful compounds are harmful if you *eat* them, not if you *touch* them. They are undesirable for use in microwave ovens because the heat can cause some of the chemicals to leech into the food they contain. But at room temperature, the chemicals almost entirely remain in the plastic.
If these researchers want to raise the alarm, they need to do some measurements of how much of these chemicals can be absorbed through the skin. Just the presence of the chemicals is not enough to raise concern.
Re: Huh (Score:2)
The takeaway is, you should never stick anything from China into one of your holes.
Re: Huh (Score:2)
Thankfully, the supreme court justices you are referring to have no jurisdiction over the people who did that research.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
>> and the feminization of males
> You'd think the usual suspects would consider that a plus ...
You beat me to it. Bisphenol A is banned here, but they keep finding it in things. But yes, there are some people who want men to be feminized. And by gosh, the dietary changes that introduce phytoestrogens, Soy products, soy milk, and endocrine disruptors like BPA, the Phthalates,)PVC softeners, Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (flame retardants) in a class known as Xenoestrogens. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
What is surprising is that few seem to make this overdosing of endocrine disruptors with
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endocrine_disruptor
Re:Huh (Score:5, Insightful)
> Would we have better luck getting rid of some of this stuff and moderating intake of foods that can disrupt hormonal balance if we let everyone know it is not good for women either? This might sound strange to say, but it is obvious that few care about what is happening to men, happening right before us.
I don't think it works that way. Medical science overwhelmingly neglects women so there's really no chance that is what would move the needle. The problem is denialism. People addicted to our modern lifestyle who cannot imagine being able to have luxuries if we make changes will resist believing anything that requires them to make any.
Re: Huh (Score:3, Insightful)
I didnâ(TM)t see all this rage when woman were called women, but the meaning was âoea being that cooks, keeps the house, gives birth to babies, feeds the family, obeys her husband, is a sex hole and so on.â
I feel you agree that it was a much better definition.
Well, as long as your wife agrees with that, I have no say in it.
Re: Huh (Score:4, Insightful)
I totally expected that wall of text to end with a link to fark/politics.