# How harmful do you think Bluetooth is?



## Sander (Apr 4, 2002)

Here is my set up. I have an AirPort Extreme base station three feet away. I have my trusty iBook with AirPort and Bluetooth near me all the time. I have two mobile phones, one of which has Bluetooth. The phone is connected to my iBook for the cool stuff that you can do with Address Book. I also have a wireless Bluetooth headset. All this is concerning me. Should I be?

What do you guys think? I read about SAR which is something about rf absorption rate. 

Now, on top of all this, I really want to get Bluetooth wireless mouse and keyboard. 

Anyone else out there concerned? Will I get brain cancer?  

Cheers.

[ November 21, 2003, 10:24 AM: Message edited by: Sander ]


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

But of course you will Sander!

Just like the last time you filled your car with gas when your cell phone rang unexpectedly and blew up the service station.

It will probably be the same type of cancer we all have from using our cell phones and microwave ovens for the past 20 years.

Not to mention all those nasty AM - FM signals around you from all those radio stations you listen to in the car.

And two way radio signals too. Don't forget about all those cops, ambulances and firemen out there talking on their radios and filling your head with cancer.

Seriously, I hardly think so IMHO.

Cheers


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## TroutMaskReplica (Feb 28, 2003)

You will probably get brain cancer. The radio waves will tear tiny holes in your soft tissues like a fine mist of battery acid until your skin liquifies and drips off your skeleton. It's a truly horrifying experience and I wish Apple would at least mention it on their website, as I believe the consumer has a right to know. Bad Apple.


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## Chealion (Jan 16, 2001)

Don't worry, if the bluetooth doesn't get you, the sun will!

There is no way you will be able to stop everything around you from causing you to get cancer. Cancer is a normal event that occurs regardless of whether you are living under high voltage power lines or not. Such interferance most likely increases the chance, but your immune system is killing off cancerous cells as we speak. Cells mutate, wear out, or just simply malfunction, and it is up to our immune system to weed them out. Personally I'm more interested in how to improve my immune system then to figure out ways to live in a bunker of lead to stop the radiation around me just to find out, living in such a place is also very bad for my health.

Personally, I'm content knowing that the radio waves aren't the healthiest things out there, but getting rid of them isn't going to stop me from dying, and there is no direct evidence that such radio waves will shorten my life. There are just too many factors.


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## Pamela (Feb 20, 2003)

It's actually a very serious matter which companies avoid talking about because it affects their bottom line.

I suggest you do as much research as you can from reliable sources and then make the decision for yourself. 

From what I have read, heard, and researched, it has made me be a little bit more aware of how I use my technology (ie. turn off airport when not in use, use a headset for my cellphone, no bluetooth devices etc)


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## Sander (Apr 4, 2002)

You guys are so funny. Mea culpa. Dumb question I guess or maybe I watched too much X Files...

But as Pamela brought up, the mobile phone companies apparently fought very hard to not disclose that information and are only doing so now because they are ordered by the FCC. (CRTC is useless.)

Now even my new phone comes with a SAR rating. Apparently my Sony Ericsson is 1.1 or something where 1.6 is considered hazardous by the FCC. My other option would have been a Siemens Bluetooth phone that only has a rating of 0.6 which they actually use as one of advertising tools. (Too bad the phone didn't have an integrated camera. Oh vanity thy name is Sander...)

Cool. I am glad I got to discuss this though. Great point Chealion: "Personally I'm more interested in how to improve my immune system then to figure out ways to live in a bunker of lead to stop the radiation around me (...)"

This also means I am getting the Apple Bluetooth keyboard and mouse so I am happy.

Cheers.


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## PosterBoy (Jan 22, 2002)

You are far more likely to see some type of ill effects from a ell phone than anything else as it is probably the only device that you keep close to your head for any extended periods of time. Airport & Airport Extreme operate in the same frequency band as a lot of cordless phones (2.4 Ghz), and bluetooth uses a less powerful transmitter than either.

Basically, unless you walk around with an active bluetooth transmitter/Airport Base Station duct taped to your head, I don't think you are going to get cancer any time soon, and even then it would take quite a while.

--PB


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

PB, one would be more likely to die of the loss of blood to the brain due to the duct tape, or die of DTP (duct tape poisoning, which is clearly stated on the label "Duct tape is NOT to be ingested or placed in direct contact with the skin for extended periods of time"). 

Personally, I would be more fearful of living near a power transmitter outside of ones bedroom. We have a house here in St.John's that is within a few meters of a power transmition sub station. The house is nearly worthless, but the people continue to live in this house, due to yearly property taxes that would not even be enough for a .Mac subscription.


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## jfpoole (Sep 26, 2002)

*Basically, unless you walk around with an active bluetooth transmitter/Airport Base Station duct taped to your head, I don't think you are going to get cancer any time soon, and even then it would take quite a while.*

Hmmm. How long would it take, though? I say we tape a base station to your head (I'll be in the control group, of course) and see how long it takes. We could even do an article for Geek Patrol with our results.

It'd be SUPER.


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## Chealion (Jan 16, 2001)

jfpoole -







Can I apply for the control group?









PosterBoy - In order for the experiment to work properly, are you going to be tethered to a wall all the time so the base station stays on?


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## Aurora (Sep 25, 2001)

When I cook dinner in the microwave, I tend to stand in front of it with my nose pressed up against the window in anticipation. Could this be a problem?
Cheers,


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## The Doug (Jun 14, 2003)

Only if an Airport base station is taped to your head while you're anxiously awaiting din-din. The tiny amount of microwaves leaking from your oven will set up some kind of resonance cycle in the Airport's circuitry, which will quickly burn Brandy (You're A Fine Girl) into your brain. You will hum or sing it incessantly, and annoy your significant other - who will throw your Bluetooth mouse at you in sheer frustration thereby proving that such devices can be harmful.


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

Doug, "But my life, my love and my lady is the sea" sounds like a fine song for Newfoundland. I only live a few km from Signal Hill here in St.John's, which overlooks out over the harbor into the Atlantic Ocean. That is one great big sea out there.


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

Dr. G., I am surprised to hear that you cancelled your wireless experiment. After all, if you are so close to Signal Hill, one would think reception should be very good there. Was that not the very place Marconi made, or was it received, his first wireless radio transmission?

Cheers


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## LGBaker (Apr 15, 2002)

So you are saying that all my apprehensions about going wireless are unfounded? Ahem...I'm with Pamela on this one. There has been some beautiful imagery in the replies, though.


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## jfpoole (Sep 26, 2002)

What happens if you tape the microwave to your head? Perhaps I need to add another group to my experiment (after all, Chealion graciously volunteered to be part of it).


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## Pamela (Feb 20, 2003)

....talk about taking something TOO far....

I think you should all tape your heads together....and then walk into traffic...









I think everyone has cabin fever....


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## LGBaker (Apr 15, 2002)

> I think everyone has cabin fever....


So early in the season too. I'm sure someone here has a humorous antidote...


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## LGBaker (Apr 15, 2002)

What's a "techno-enthusiast cheerleader"?

Applelinks article 

 

Lots of information re: brain damage.


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## Peter Scharman (Jan 4, 2002)

Dr G wrote:


> *I only live a few km from Signal Hill here in St.John's*


DR G lives near a historic site, for sure. For those of you not familiar with the beauty of Newfoundland, here is a view from that famous point.










[ November 21, 2003, 02:56 PM: Message edited by: Peter Scharman ]


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

Peter, this is a great view from the Queen's Battery, just below Signal Hill on one of the 13 clear and sunny days we get each year.  

The canon is pointing out to Fort Amherst, with the fog horn that can be heard as far away as my house, and past that is Cape Spear, the furthest easterly point in North America. If I started walking now, I would be a 1/2 hour leisurely walk from the base of Signal Hill, and then another 1/2 hour hard and steep walk up to the top of Signal Hill. I guess I am not as fit as I once was when I first came to St.John's, and lived 3 blocks from the foot of Signal Hill, and could make it up in 10-15 minutes. Those were the days.


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## gordguide (Jan 13, 2001)

It's an issue, no doubt about it.

How dangerous is it? Not very.

Which is basically the whole problem; it's a line we know should be somewhere, but don't know where to draw it. It would be pretty simple if people started keeling over dead after the first 1000th phone call, but they don't.

Minimise is probably a good idea. You don't have a hope, however, of elimination, no matter where you go or what you do. Your bluetooth device is my cancer-wave, and I'm getting it now. And you are getting everybody else's.

Just because you don't listen to the radio, doesn't mean the radio waves aren't bouncing the molecules in your head. All our atoms are being vibrated not just by the bluetooth and local Hot94; they are vibrating to the frequency of every single radio device on earth and many that aren't of this earth. All at the same time, 24/7, for our whole lives.

The number of radio devices is staggering; essentially every electric/electonic item on earth is a radio device. The power lines in your home are radio devices. Your monitor is a radio device, but so is your quartz watch.

Placing the transmitter (like a cellphone) very close to your head is a bad idea, we just don't know how bad an idea it is. It might only kill 1 in a billion, or 1 per millenium, or it might be much more dangerous than that. We don't really know.

A bluetooth device against your head would be thousands of times more dangerous than one even a few feet away; distance really matters when it comes to bouncing electons with tiny bits of energy. To us it's a few feet; to molecules it's the difference between as close as the moon and a bazillion light years away. Distance counts, a lot.

Yes, it matters. No, we don't know how much. Sure, it's a good idea to maintain distance when possible. No, I don't worry about it.


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## LGBaker (Apr 15, 2002)

gordguide - very well said.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

Then of course consider the neutrinos sleeting through your body at phenomenal energies and the occasional extreme energy cosmic ray that can do some real damage. 







Scary universe.


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## MacNutt (Jan 16, 2002)

This stuff has me seriously worried. All those electrons and neutrinos and whatsis flying through my head all the time. Makes it hard to hear the voices that have been in there since I hit puberty. The ones that keep telling me to grab a rifle and head for the nearest bell tower and to avoid mayonnaise. (Don't ask).

Anyway....the nasty electronic interference got so bad a few weeks back that I decided to make a tinfoil sheild and wear it on my head at all times. I wrapped it up into a flat conical shape (half of an oblate spheroid with a nifty little twist on top) and it seems to work!

What a relief! Nothing but those creepy voices is getting through any more! (I was starting to pick up Radio Tokyo on my tooth fillings before I donned the 'cone of silence')

Trouble is when I wear it in public...it makes my head look like a giant Hershey's Kiss. 

What do you think I should do?


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## used to be jwoodget (Aug 22, 2002)

Ever heard of risk assessment? Everything we do has a finite associated risk. But many people just aren't able to deal with it rationally when that risk is small. One analogy is when a defense attorny counters a prosecution DNA test by saying that the fact that there is a one in 2 billion chance of her clients blood not being that found on the victim simply means that there are two other people on the planet who should be in the dock!

While there is probably some miniscule risk of a mutation associated with sitting on a bluetooth phone, the relative risk compared with many other, much more common behaviours is tiny. BTW, hands-free devices are very effective in concentrating electromagnetic fields.

Check out this site for some needed perspective. Otherwise, macnutt has pointed out an excellent solution. Indeed, macnutt swears by such foil helmets while standing in the way of rocket bikes during filming.....


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## MACSPECTRUM (Oct 31, 2002)

> it makes my head look like a giant Hershey's Kiss.
> What do you think I should do?


hmmm, let's apply some logical positivism...

makes my head looks like a big Heshey's Kiss
macnutt is an horse's a**

ergo
kiss my a**


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## MacNutt (Jan 16, 2002)

No way I'd ever wear that thing around all of those biker types! They think I'm a bit strange already.

Nope...I'll stick to my normal attire while filming dragracing. A purple sequined thong and a pair of sealskin boots. 

Besides, the tinfoil hat would clash with the thong.


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## Peter Scharman (Jan 4, 2002)

This is getting too complicated and confusing. Did someone get a blue tooth from using a cell phone?? I would have to say that might be dangerous. Doesn't look too good either!


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

Luckily, it was not called something else for another part of the body.


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

Here's a link on Bluetooth radiation:

What about radiation; is it dangerous? 

Dave


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## Sander (Apr 4, 2002)

Thanks for the link, dolawren.









Cheers.


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## LGBaker (Apr 15, 2002)

I don't know..... I have a lot of stuff within an inch of my surface. Macnutt must be one of those sensitive types. He can feel the slightest air movement with the hairs on his knees. He told me this.

On the other hand:



> The future will show whether this is a healthy development.


this does not seem to be a wholly rational approach.

I. personally, will await UVtooth. I hear it is much safer.


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