Bluetooth - health risks?
Posted by: rupert bear on 03 June 2007
I've just got one of those Logitech PC wireless jobbies, which 'transmits' whatever audio is on your PC (typically in another room) to a receiver unit which plugs into the hifi. Disregarding the sound quality issue for the moment (amazingly good, as it happens), I'm ever so slightly concerned that the transmission medium is bluetooth (i.e. not wi-fi etc). Are there any known potential health issues with this stuff?
Posted on: 03 June 2007 by Bob McC
Noone knows. Go ahead and become one of the trial group.
Posted on: 04 June 2007 by Tam
First off, if it's going to another room, it will be Wi-Fi and not Bluetooth (which only has a very short range).
Health risks, none known. No research conducted has suggested any. If you're going to worry about this, you should be much more worried about what's being pumped into your living room all day, every day from the BBC et al. (But there's no evidence of any health risk from those signals.)
This was tackled in an infantile, unintelligent, unscientific and melodramatic manner on a recent Panorama (I hadn't realised quite the extent to which it had abandoned basic journalistic skills or integrity until its broadcast). Of course, you could do like one of the 'special' people in that programme and line your walls with tin foil.
regards, Tam
Health risks, none known. No research conducted has suggested any. If you're going to worry about this, you should be much more worried about what's being pumped into your living room all day, every day from the BBC et al. (But there's no evidence of any health risk from those signals.)
This was tackled in an infantile, unintelligent, unscientific and melodramatic manner on a recent Panorama (I hadn't realised quite the extent to which it had abandoned basic journalistic skills or integrity until its broadcast). Of course, you could do like one of the 'special' people in that programme and line your walls with tin foil.
regards, Tam
Posted on: 04 June 2007 by ewemon
A good another guinea pig. 
Posted on: 04 June 2007 by Guido Fawkes
I know if my teeth started to go blue then I'd worry.
However, I'm convinced the Logitech device is reasonably safe.
Although Bluetooth is in the same waveband as microwaves and being cooked inside a microwave oven would hurt, the transmitting power of the Logitech system is too weak to cook you. Its radiation is not concentrated in a single beam, but randomly dispersed and its penetration depth is about 1.5 cm - superficial absorption. Heating by means of radio frequencies is how microwave ovens work, but they use 1,000,000 times the power output of Bluetooth. Nonetheless, I'm not saying prolonged exposure to Bluetooth all day every day for years will not produce negative effects. The jury is out.
However, I'm convinced the Logitech device is reasonably safe.
Although Bluetooth is in the same waveband as microwaves and being cooked inside a microwave oven would hurt, the transmitting power of the Logitech system is too weak to cook you. Its radiation is not concentrated in a single beam, but randomly dispersed and its penetration depth is about 1.5 cm - superficial absorption. Heating by means of radio frequencies is how microwave ovens work, but they use 1,000,000 times the power output of Bluetooth. Nonetheless, I'm not saying prolonged exposure to Bluetooth all day every day for years will not produce negative effects. The jury is out.
Posted on: 04 June 2007 by Steve S1
quote:recent Panorama (I hadn't realised quite the extent to which it had abandoned basic journalistic skills or integrity until its broadcast).
You should try the Tonight programme with Sir Trevor McDoughnut. They make Panorama look restrained. ITV trying to set new standards for scaremongering in competition with the satellite broadcasters.
The current public appertite for being terrified or outraged apparently knows no bounds.
Steve.
Posted on: 05 June 2007 by rupert bear
quote:Originally posted by Tam:
First off, if it's going to another room, it will be Wi-Fi and not Bluetooth (which only has a very short range).
regards, Tam
Tam - the Logitech uses bluetooth, the idea being that you don't need a wireless setup, and can more easily control content from the PC. It has a tiny transmitter aerial at the PC, and receiver/DAC at the hifi end, and works perfectly with both doors shut downstairs.
Thanks for all replies, whether reassuring or not. I won't be using it for more than a couple of hours every few days at most... but still not 100% convinced...
Posted on: 05 June 2007 by rupert bear
Forgot to add - wouldn't any risks be the same with Wi-fi?
Posted on: 06 June 2007 by Frank Abela
Rupert, nothing has come to light about bluetooth being a problem, let alone dangerous. People are now asking questions about Wi-F which has far higher power output in order to give the much wider range that it enjoys.
Tam, I thought the Panorama piece was quite illuminating. That some Nordic countries recognise some people can be affected by Wi-Fi transmissions and take steps to help those people is very interesting. I have often wondered about Wi-Fi (and all those other radio waves) we pump into the air and their effect on our physiologies. I know that I can't have a mobile phone conversation for more than a couple of minutes because it causes a headache. I don't understand why Wi-Fi doesn't affect me in the same way. On the other hand I had a customer walk in a few weeks ago asking for a networked music system that is specifically not Wi-Fi since whenever he starts using any Wi-Fi equipment he has the same problem as I do with moble phones. That said, he doesn't have the problem I have with mobile phones.
ROTF, 1.5cm depth penetration is very worrying! If that's the case, prolonged exposure can possibly disrupt cell structure and could eventually cause skin cancers to develop. There's no way of knowing if the energy levels are low enough and not invidious enough to cause damage.
Tam, I thought the Panorama piece was quite illuminating. That some Nordic countries recognise some people can be affected by Wi-Fi transmissions and take steps to help those people is very interesting. I have often wondered about Wi-Fi (and all those other radio waves) we pump into the air and their effect on our physiologies. I know that I can't have a mobile phone conversation for more than a couple of minutes because it causes a headache. I don't understand why Wi-Fi doesn't affect me in the same way. On the other hand I had a customer walk in a few weeks ago asking for a networked music system that is specifically not Wi-Fi since whenever he starts using any Wi-Fi equipment he has the same problem as I do with moble phones. That said, he doesn't have the problem I have with mobile phones.
ROTF, 1.5cm depth penetration is very worrying! If that's the case, prolonged exposure can possibly disrupt cell structure and could eventually cause skin cancers to develop. There's no way of knowing if the energy levels are low enough and not invidious enough to cause damage.