Apple users shocked after learning the official device contains chemicals that cause birth defects and cancer
Apple fans are shocked to learn that a device sold by the tech giant contains chemicals known to cause birth defects and cancer.
The $100 Belkin BoostCharge Pro Magnetic Charging Power Bank includes a warning on Apple’s page for the accessory, hidden at the bottom, which is required by California state regulators due to its dangerous contents.
California has mandated that the product must contain a warning warning consumers that this wireless charger “may expose you to chemicals including Bisphenol A (BPA).”
BPA, a chemical commonly used to help harden plastics, is known to do this disrupt the hormones in the bodycause fertility problems, sexual development and other problems.
The warning follows California’s Proposition 65, passed in 1986, which has long required companies to warn consumers about the risks of BPA in their products.
The warning has nervous Apple fans wondering, “Should I be concerned about this?”
Belkin’s Apple-approved wireless charger joins the growing group of consumer goods contaminated with this hormone-mimicking chemical, including everything from water bottles and garbage bags to dishes, carpeting and more.
“Holding the case with sweaty hands could cause you to absorb some of it,” a consumer advocate warned a nervous Apple customer online.
Although Prop65 is the strongest law in the US, the legislation is a modest step compared to regulations in the European Union, where BPA is banned in food packaging marketed for use by young children – with an outright ban now in question is on the continent. .
Regulators in California have determined that the product, the Belkin BoostCharge Pro Magnetic Charging Power Bank (pictured), contains a warning warning consumers that this wireless charger may “expose you to chemicals including Bisphenol A (BPA).”
BPA, a chemical often used to harden plastics, is known to disrupt hormones in the body and cause fertility problems, sexual development and other problems. The charger joins the growing group of consumer goods contaminated by BPA, including water bottles and garbage bags
Studies since at least 2018 using cultures of human skin cells have in fact shown that as much as 16 to 20 percent of the BPA released from a consumer product can be absorbed and become bioavailable through contact with human skin.
“BPA may possibly cause adverse health effects after skin contact,” according to an analysis by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
Other Apple accessories, including plastic iPhone cases, have also concerned consumers with identical notices warning of BPA content.
“I’m looking for a new iPhone case and I came across one that I really liked,” says one user told the r/Chemistry forum on Reddit, ‘but looking at the specifications at the bottom of the page I noticed that the product contained Bisphenol A.’
“Should I be concerned about this or should I find another case without that chemical?” the user asked.
Nervous consumers have heatedly debated the issue, with some dismissing California’s regulation as overhyped, while others argue it doesn’t go far enough.
“You can absolutely absorb BPA through your skin,” one said“If you don’t know what you’re talking about, please don’t say anything.”
Apple’s product page for the Belkin Wireless Charger Pack, designed to work with MagSafe-compatible iPhones feature the device in a charcoal black plastic case.
Two of the most commonly used alternatives – bisphenol S (BPS) and bisphenol F (BPF) – actually behave almost identically to the dangerous chemical they were intended to replace
Apple’s product page for the Belkin Wireless Charger Pack, designed to work with MagSafe-compatible iPhones, shows the device secured in a charcoal black plastic case (above)
The device, about four inches long and four inches wide, contains a rechargeable lithium-ion battery used to extend the battery life of an iPhone anywhere in the world.
Even the industry has proposed alternatives to BPA – bisphenol S (BPS) and bisphenol F (BPF) – behave almost identically to the dangerous chemical they were intended to replace, according to scientists who have studied the problem.
“The use of these bisphenols should be stopped because of the risks they may pose to human and animal health,” said biochemist José Villalaín, professor at the Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche in Spain.
Villalaín published his findings in the Journal of Xenobiotics last September.
Some Apple users and others debating how best to respond to California’s warnings are up in arms over the gap between U.S. regulations on these chemicals and stricter consumer and public protections abroad.
“Most countries would ban potential carcinogens, but in America all you have to do is slap a cancer warning on them,” complained another Reddit user, who goes by Old_Impact_3818.
“Often it says in small print on the bottom of the box that something is inside, without you even seeing it.”
