We know from several studies that prolonged cell phone use causes brain cancer. Most Bluetooth earbuds broadcast at similar powers. Therefore they are going to cause cancer. There is no could here. This is going to happen.

The various industries that profit from wireless technology have done a grand job of obfuscating the link between cellphones and cancer. Typically you will see such statements as, “No convincing link has been shown between cellphone use and cancer.” This is false, and to state it is to ignore several studies that strongly suggest otherwise.

The smoking gun study can be found here. This study did something very clever and very convincing. It used the participants as the controls simultaneously. People habitually use the cellphone with one ear or the other. If cell phone use causes brain cancer, we would expect more cancers on the side of use. And if we got more, significantly more, it would be very, very hard to argue that the cell phone did not cause it. What does significantly more mean? With the sample size in this study, an increase of 25% would certainly be significant. However, it was far worse than that. The increase was 100%. Using a cellphone doubled the risk!

The authors modestly claim, “The authors conclude that there is adequate epidemiologic evidence to suggest a link between prolonged cell phone usage and the development of an ipsilateral brain tumor.
” Too modest. It’s proof of causality. Given that the patients were their own controls, these were basically crossover trials. Causal inference is valid. And given the strength of the results, this is effectively proof of causality. This is game, set, and match. Want more? Go to the above referenced paper and look at the eleven studies it is based on.

But Aren’t Earbuds Safe?

Cellphones transmit 100 mw to 500 mw of power, depending on how far you are from the cell tower. (Closer=less power.) A cordless phone is about 250 mw.

Earbuds could be safe, but they aren’t. Bluetooth has three classes. Class 3 is very low power, 1 mw, probably safe, and has a range of about 10 feet. Class 2 is somewhat higher, 2.5 mw. The range goes up to 30 feet. The cellphone would surely be within that range one would think. SO WHY ARE ALMOST ALL THE EARBUDS TRANSMITTING AT CLASS 1, WHICH IS 100 mw, UP THERE WITH THE CELLPHONES? I apologize for all this screaming, but this is completely crazy. This has to stop. There is absolutely no need for high power here. What are they thinking? And “they” includes almost all earbuds, and definitely includes AirPods. They’re all blasting away at Class 1. Plantronics makes a Class 2 earbud, and they appear to be the only one.

But It Gets Even Worse

The cellphone or cordless phone only subjects your brain to radiation when you are on a phone call and hold that phone up to your ear. An earbud periodically transmits even when nothing is going on. It is also transmitting if listening to music, an activity some seem to practice continually. This is uncharted territory. Bluetooth earbuds are nothing new, but now that the audio jack has disappeared from many smartphones, there has been an explosion in usage.

How Long Does It Take?

The above study looked at >10 years of cellphone usage. How many people over 25 have not had this much usage? With Class 1 earbuds, we do not know, but we know that this level of radiation is dangerous, will cause cancer, and should be avoided.

What to Do?

Don’t use earbuds. Try to avoid putting the cellphone to your ear if you use it a lot. Use wired earphones. And tell your friends.