French agency says the iPhone 12 emits too much radiation, tells Apple to withdraw it

ZeroCool@feddit.ch to Technology@lemmy.world – 253 points –
French agency says the iPhone 12 emits too much radiation, tells Apple to withdraw it
abcnews.go.com
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Electromagnetic radiation, as in visible light, radio signals or as this Iphone has a fucking RMBK melting its core inside?

Someone has a link to those test they performed to claim this?

I call it bullshit

Microwaves. It's microwaves.

Phones are slightly above FM radio and slightly below microwaves in terms of wavelength.

They're a non-ionizing radiation emitter.

The radiation emitted by phones ain't gonna hurt ya.

That's right! However, remember that bananas have potassium-40 in it, which is radioactive. Not much, though. So be very very mildly careful around bananaphones! /old joke

Back in the early 00s there was this wave of "phones give you cancer" panic and my friends father made them put on this stupid sticker on the back of their phone to "stop the radiation". Anyways it was stupid and your comment reminded me of it xD

You take that back!

I had a sticker that had flashing LEDs powered solely on the radiation coming from the phone. It was awesome.

My grandad still only uses his phone on loud speaker because of this

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Ring ring ring ring ring

Also remember that plants have been around before humans and that we evolved to resist natural radiations. We haven't evolved yet to be around devices that produces more radiations than the limit agreed by scientists

Radioactive bananas is a relatively new thing resulting from all the nuclear bomb testing that went on from the 40s in to the 90s.

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I seem to remember it was not a ionization issue but something with local temperatures increases around the ear when you were using it without an earset.

Anyway, Apples knows what the norms are, decided not to care, gets caught and has to retire a phone, nothing exceptional here.

3.8 roentgen. Not great, not terrible.

I doubt they'd have to retire the phone - digital radio power levels are normally pretty easy to change in the radio firmware. Which also means it's pretty easy to change, intentionally or unintentionally, in a later OS version.

Perhaps Apple chose to cheat to improve reception after mandatory testing was complete and the phone was available to buy, figuring they'd never get caught out. Perhaps Apple didn't retest with later OS versions and it was unintentional. We will probably never know.

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Can't you read? The article says the EU has a limit of 4 watts per kilogram and the device produces more than that. Scientists agreed on that limit.

How is it 2023, when everybody uses microwave radios for communication constantly, and there are still people that don't understand the absolute basics, like the difference between radio/light radiation and ionising radiation? And how important transmit power is to how dangerous or not a radio wave is?

They do teach this stuff in schools still, right?

It boggles my mind. It's not some complex difficult topic, it's like not knowing how electricity works, or how your body works. This is basic child level knowledge that everybody interacts with every single day, so it behoves them to understand it at least at an introductory level.

Yeah that's what I thought... non-ionizing radiation fear, once again.

This is likely mostly true, but there is evidence brain tumor rates went up when handheld cell phones came into widespread use.

Detection of brain tumour also went up, due to increased capacity of MRIs/CT scans.

Also more marvel movies came out. It's interesting how often we have to repeat the correlation/causation joke and people still struggle with it.

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To be fair, it's not completely made-up. There is a body of evidence that suggests that even non-ionizing EM radiation may have so-called "biological effects" in humans.

Organizations like the Environmental Health Trust have been banging the "cellphones cause infertility and cancer" drum for years, and cites numerous studies on their website.

Of course, much of this research is of questionable relevance to real-world use cases involving actual phones and actual humans as opposed to, say, a bunch of rats being exposed to low-power microwaves in a lab for hours on end, but it exists nonetheless.

Environmental Health Trust is a single issue organization founded to specifically claim that radio waves are dangerous.

They are alarmists bereft of credible arguments and should be treated as such.

Meanwhile apple and chinese factories have 0 interests in shadowing researches that could put in danger their biggest source of income

Certainly, but the existence of this research is why countries like France are taking this precautionary approach.

There is research that exists suggesting that the Nazis are currently plotting their return from a moon base.

France should take the precautionary approach of nuking the dark side of the moon.

Equally valid.

I get that you're trying to be funny, but no they're not exactly "equally valid".

The WHO lists RF waves (including those from cellphones) under category Group 2B of possible carcinogens, along with a bunch of other stuff.

Are they being overly cautious? Almost certainly, yes. However, the idea is not inherently ridiculous.

EHTrust are mad as a box of frogs. They claim that phones cause cancer, which is something that all major cancer research charities dispute. Nothing they say can be taken seriously.

I call BS on you understanding what radiation is...

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Eh

That took them 3 years? Lol

They suspect it was increased with a software update because it was ok before the recent tests.

The agency said the iPhone 12 met the threshold when radiation levels were assessed for a phone kept in a jacket or in a bag.

Free bumpers incoming

Meanwhile French nuclear reactors โ€ฆ

Are not typically held directly against your head

Hey, don't kink shame. Some people like pressing their heads against french nuclear reactors.

Finally someone I can come out to.

I'm a reactor licker, and proud of it.

The taste is so energetic!

Only in a jacket or bag. I love my new pocket nuclear reactor. Itโ€™s the smallest nuclear reactor ever, and I think youโ€™re going to love it

French agency oh Noooooooo ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚