Clickbait! This is nothing news since the report isn’t publicly available. This is just the media working to keep you scared and reading.
Hazardous substances found in all headphones tested by ToxFREE project
Submitted 8 hours ago by thehatfox@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/18/hazardous-substances-headphones
Comments
oyzmo@piefed.social 8 hours ago
xSikes@feddit.online 4 hours ago
From my experience reading the guardian, click bait isn’t their thing. Also it says the investigation isn’t finished and they reached out for a comment , which usually means there’s room for an explanation or clarification if their findings are off. This is pretty common to openly ask “correct us if we’re wrong”.
Also it mentions the organization and European program backed by the EU.
AmbitiousProcess@piefed.social 7 hours ago
No source linked by the article, no visible press releases that don’t just pretend to be a real press release while citing the articles, no official blog posts, and the only official sounding mention of this that comes from a more direct source is a coalition on linkedin saying a person at a sub-group of the broader project was gonna talk with them about it.
No stats, no numbers, just “they found it” in the headphones.
You could find a chemical well under the safe limit in drinking water, and say “we found x in your water” and make a big scare of it when it’s not a big deal.
While I have no doubt BPA and its counterparts could be used in manufacturing of headphones, without any actual data, this is literally no better than when your uncle at Thanksgiving starts yapping about how the government found some data one time and that means you should never drink tap water again.
scoobford@piefed.blahaj.zone 8 hours ago
This seems like a nothing burger. Plenty of things you shouldn’t ingest like BPA, plastic, and solder are perfectly benign when used to construct consumer electronics.
I’d be more interested to hear they found something that leeches through the skin being used to create the body of the headphones.
thehatfox@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
BPAs have been shown to absorbed through the skin. Headphones are increasingly worn for long, continuous periods. Unlike other plastic objects which are handled for shorter periods.
I’m not entirely convinced of the danger myself (tinnitus seems a bigger worry for headphone use to me), but I thought it was a matter worthy of further discussion.
vext01@lemmy.sdf.org 8 hours ago
I did wonder this myself. Can it enter the body via normal usage?
I don’t make a habit of putting headphones in my mouth.
Willoughby@piefed.world 5 hours ago
we can’t eat headphones anymore?
vext01@lemmy.sdf.org 5 hours ago
Only Beets by Dr Dre.
YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 8 hours ago
feminisation of males
Looks closely
The guardian
Well that’s all I need to know about this.
vext01@lemmy.sdf.org 8 hours ago
Is there a way to find out which models are guilty?
realitista@lemmus.org 8 hours ago
No, you just have to have the anxiety of which toxic chemicals you are in contact with every time you use your headphones. You’re welcome.
vext01@lemmy.sdf.org 7 hours ago
Everything is toxic at some dose.
hummingbird@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
According to the article all of them.
vext01@lemmy.sdf.org 8 hours ago
All that we’re sampled. So which were sampled?
They mentioned some brands, but not models.
johsny@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
Who is chewing on their headphones?
Flying_Penguin@lemmy.zip 8 hours ago
Is it muddy bananas?
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 5 hours ago
Uhm, guys, the skin is not a plastic wrap; it absorbs substances. While some only can be bad for the skin (like, causing cancer), some others can get into the blood stream this way.