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 features a warning on Apple’s page for the accessory, hidden at the bottom, that is required by California state regulators due to its dangerous contents.
California has mandated that the product carry a warning alerting consumers that this wireless charger can “expose you to chemicals, including bisphenol A (BPA).”
BPA, a chemical commonly used to help harden plastics, is known to alter hormones in the bodycausing fertility problems, sexual development and other problems.
The warning is due to California’s Proposition 65, passed in 1986, which has long required companies to alert consumers about the risks of BPA in their products.
The warning has nervous Apple fans asking, “Should I be worried about this?”
Belkin’s Apple-approved wireless charger joins the growing ranks of consumer goods contaminated by this hormone-mimicking chemical, including everything from water bottles and trash bags to tableware, rugs and more.
“Holding the case with sweaty hands could lead to it absorbing something,” one online consumer advocate warned a nervous Apple customer.
While Proposition 65 is the strictest such law in the U.S., the legislation is a modest step compared to European Union regulations, where BPA is banned in food packaging marketed for use by young children, and a complete ban on the continent is now being debated. .
California regulators have ordered that the product, Belkin’s BoostCharge Pro magnetic charging power bank (pictured), carry a warning alerting consumers that this wireless charger can “expose you to chemicals, including bisphenol A (BPA)”.
BPA, a chemical commonly used to help harden plastics, is known to disrupt hormones in the body, causing problems with fertility, sexual development, and other problems. The charger joins the growing list of consumer goods contaminated by BPA, including water bottles and garbage bags.
Studies since at least 2018. using human skin cell cultures In fact, they have shown that between 16 and 20 percent of the BPA released from a consumer product can be absorbed and made biologically available through contact with human skin.
“BPA is potentially capable of causing adverse health effects after contact with the skin,” according to an analysis by the National Institute of Safety and Health at Work.
Other Apple accessories, including plastic iPhone cases, have also worried consumers about identical notices warning about BPA content.
“I’m looking for a new iPhone case and found one I really liked,” one user he told r/Chemistry forum on Reddit, “but when looking at the specifications at the bottom of the page I noticed that the product contained bisphenol A.”
‘Should I worry about this or find another case without that chemical?’ the user asked.
Nervous consumers have hotly debated the issue; Some dismiss California’s regulation as overkill and others say it doesn’t go far enough.
“It is absolutely possible to absorb BPA through the skin,” says one saying“If you don’t know what you’re talking about, please don’t say anything.”
Apple product page for the Belkin wireless charger bundle, designed to work with MagSafe compatible iPhones, shows the device secured in a carbon black plastic case.
Two of the most widely used alternatives, bisphenol S (BPS) and bisphenol F (BPF), actually behave almost identically to the hazardous chemical they were designed to protect against.
Apple’s product page for the Belkin wireless charger bundle, designed to work with MagSafe-compatible iPhones, shows the device secured in a carbon black plastic case (above)
The device, approximately four inches long and three inches wide, houses a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that is used to extend the battery life of an iPhone in the world.
Even industry-suggested alternatives to BPA (bisphenol S (BPS) and bisphenol F (BPF)) behave almost identically to the dangerous chemical they were designed to replace, according to scientists who have investigated the problem.
“The use of these bisphenols should be suspended due to the risks they may pose to human and animal health,” said biochemist José Villalaín, professor at the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (Spain).
Villalaín published his findings in the Xenobiotics Magazine this past September.
Some Apple users and others debating how best to react to California’s warnings have been up in arms over the chasm between U.S. regulations on these chemicals and stronger consumer and public protections abroad.
“Most countries would ban potential carcinogens, but in the US all you have to do is put a cancer warning on them,” lamented another Reddit user, who goes by the name Old_Impact_3818.
“A lot of times it will be in small print on the bottom of the box something that goes in and you won’t even see it.”