The news of the iPhone 12 being banned in France due to radiation concerns has caused consternation among iPhone users, leading to the question whether the iPhone 12 is safe to use.
Many iPhone 12 users, as well as owners of other iPhone models, have been wondering whether they should buy a newer iPhone model to reduce radiation risks or even start using Androids instead.
In this article, we will uncover the true story behind France’s banning of the iPhone 12, why the iPhone 12 is actually still safe to use, and why you shouldn’t worry about cell phone radiation.
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Quick Summary
- France banned the iPhone 12 in September 2023 after it failed to meet acceptable EU levels of radiation emission during testing.
- However, Apple released a software update in October 2023 that addressed the issue and reduced the iPhone 12’s radiation, bringing emissions back to acceptable levels in mainland France.
- In December 2023, Apple released another update bringing it into compliance in France’s overseas territories, after which France completely lifted the iPhone 12 ban.
- In general, cell phones are safe to use because they only emit low amounts of non-ionizing radiation, which doesn’t cause cancer.
Why Did France Ban the iPhone 12?
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France banned the iPhone 12 and discontinued related sales and marketing in September 2023. Its regulatory agency for radio frequency emissions, ANFR (Agence Nationale des Fréquences), performed tests and determined that the iPhone 12 did not meet safe radiation levels.
The ANFR and other regulatory bodies perform SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) tests to determine how much radio frequency cellular devices release when held in the hand or carried in a pocket. We’ll get more into that in a minute.
The ANFR gave France two weeks to respond to the ban.
Other national regulatory agencies, including those from Belgium and Germany, raised concerns after the ANFR ban. However, they did not proceed to ban the iPhone 12.
The Dutch Digital Infrastructure Agency stated that while the radiation appeared to exceed limits, there was no immediate safety risk.
The only iPhone model that was affected was the iPhone 12 itself, not the entire iPhone 12 series. So, phones like the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max were never banned.
In addition, other iPhone models were not impacted by the ban.
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What Was Apple’s Response?
Apple responded by saying the iPhone 12 is safe to use.
In a statement, Apple stated that the iPhone 12 has been tested and meets acceptable radio frequency exposure levels.
In addition, it started working on a software update that would fix the issue immediately.
You may wonder how a software update can fix such an issue.
The answer is that the radiation that phones release depends on various factors. These factors include the hardware the phone in question is using, but other factors are software-based.
For example, a phone at rest will not produce as much radiation as a phone in use.
A phone connected to the internet and sending a file over Bluetooth will likely emit more radiation than a phone that is asleep and only using the internet in the background.
In a span of several weeks, Apple released a software update to the iPhone 12 that fixed the issue by reducing the amount of radiation the iPhone 12 produced. This brought the iPhone 12 back into compliance in mainland France.
A few weeks later, Apple brought the iPhone 12 into compliance in France’s overseas territories. Therefore, the ANFR completely lifted the ban, according to its press release on the matter.
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Is the iPhone 12 Safe to Use Now?
Yes, the iPhone 12 is safe to use.
The truth is that the iPhone 12 was always safe to use. There is a reason only France banned it and not other countries.
Even countries with strict standards overall, such as Germany and Belgium, refrained from banning the iPhone 12. France’s measure was out of pure precaution and to protect consumers, but the risk was minimal.
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Either way, the issue has been completely addressed with the software update that Apple released. If you have an iPhone 12 that is up-to-date, there is no risk of using it at all; even France would say so.
What Type of Radiation Do Phones Emit?
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All phones release RF (radiofrequency) radiation, a type of electromagnetic energy. That’s because the wireless communication technologies used by phones, including wifi, wireless cellular, and Bluetooth, rely on RF waves.
Without RF waves, you would not be able to call someone on the phone, connect to a public hotspot, or send a photo via Bluetooth to your friend.
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Different phones release different levels of RF radiation. In fact, the iPhone 12 isn’t the only phone that France banned.
France banned several phones in an effort to reduce the public’s exposure to radiation. SAR tests are conducted to determine radiation levels.
There are two types of SAR tests. One type tests the radiation a person is exposed to when holding a phone in their hand, while the other focuses on radiation exposure when carrying a phone in a trouser pocket.
Obviously, the latter scenario results in less exposure due to the increased distance of the phone from the body. Even though the distance is not really that large, it makes a difference.
These tests, by the way, are conducted with mannequins filled with a special liquid that heats up at a similar rate as human tissue.
The iPhone 12 passed the trouser pocket test but not the test that involved holding a phone in your hand. Why is that?
The iPhone 12 has a mechanism in which it can detect when you are carrying your phone in your pocket as opposed to holding it in your hand. It lowers power when that happens to conserve energy, and that results in lower rates of RF radiation.
In any case, France has some of the strictest testing procedures and standards for determining acceptable levels of RF exposure.
Other countries may have standards that are easier to obtain or may not require the phone to be so close to the tissue during testing, which can lead to a different end result.
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Is Radiation From Phones Actually Dangerous?
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Now we come to an interesting question. We know that cell phones produce radiation, but how dangerous are cell phones, really?
Do cell phones pose a health risk? If they do, how do they compare to other everyday devices we use that emit radiation, such as a microwave?
Cell Phone Radiation is Non-Ionizing
One of the most important things to know about cellphone radiation is that it is non-ionizing.
According to the National Cancer Institute, writing on Cancer.gov, non-ionizing radiation is of a lower energy form than ionizing radiation. This range of the spectrum cannot damage DNA and does not kill the cells in your body.
Thus, it actually doesn’t cause cancer. The only type of radiation it emits is heat radiation, but it’s too little to be felt.
In theory, large amounts of non-ionizing radiation could cause thermal burns due to heat. But, the amount that cell phones release is far below that.
To be clear, the reason cell phone radiation falls into the non-ionizing category is not because of the amount of radiation it releases, even though it is low. Rather, it is because of the type of radiation it releases: its electromagnetic frequency range on the electromagnetic spectrum.
The type of frequencies used by cell phones are not known to cause cancer. The amount of heat they release is also not enough to affect your core body temperature, even when held to your ear.
You may have heard that cancer rates have risen since cell phones became popular. However, according to the National Cancer Institute, that is actually incorrect, as the rates for brain and central nervous system cancers have been stable over the past few decades.
There are so many other things that release non-ionizing radiation. Power lines and even everyday household appliances release this type of radiation.
Microwaves, for example, release non-ionizing radiation.
Earlier research did suggest that there might be some risk of using wireless devices and that they could possibly cause cancer. For example, a World Health Organization report released in 2011 found that the wireless radiofrequency electromagnetic fields were possibly carcinogenic.
However, if you look closely, the report states that, “The evidence was reviewed critically, and overall evaluated as being limited among users of wireless telephones for glioma (brain cancer) and acoustic neuroma (noncancerous tumors of the ear), and inadequate to draw conclusions for other types of cancers.”
The general current consensus among the scientific community is that non-ionizing radiation does not cause cancer.
Put simply, according to Cancer.gov, “The evidence to date suggests that cell phone use does not cause brain or other kinds of cancer in humans.”
Meanwhile, other things do release ionizing radiation, which is higher on the spectrum and can cause DNA damage, leading to gene changes that could increase your risk of cancer. Examples of things that do release ionizing radiation include x-rays and cosmic rays that come from space.
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In fact, that is why taking a flight exposes you to a lot of ionizing radiation. As you go further up, the air gets thinner, and there are less gas molecules to block these cosmic rays.
In the same vein, going to outer space results in an even higher dose of radiation, which is why it is unsafe for astronauts to stay in space for too long.
This chart is quite helpful in comparing different activities and how much radiation they expose you to. It uses a metric known as uSV, which stands for microsieverts.
The sievert is a unit, part of the International System of Units, that helps measure ionizing radiation doses when assessing health risks. It is named after Rolf Maximilian Sievert, a Swedish medical physicist.
For everyday activities, though, such as getting an x-Ray, the uSV, or microsievert, it is used instead. One uSV is the equivalent of 1 million sieverts!
Sometimes, an mSV, or millisievert, is used. An mSV is equivalent to 1,000 uSV.
As you can see in the chart, cell phone usage results in 0 uSV. That is because it produces no ionizing radiation, only producing non-ionizing radiation.
Meanwhile, eating a banana results in 0.1 uSV. Yes, eating a banana results in radiation exposure!
Radioactive elements are naturally present in many foods, including bananas. Of course, the amount is very small and nothing to worry about.
It is totally safe, and even healthy, to eat bananas! Eat as many bananas as you wish; they are filling, nutritious, and have plenty of potassium.
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There are radioactive elements everywhere: in the food, air, and water.
You can’t avoid them, and they are radioactive elements of the ionizing type, which should theoretically be a lot more dangerous than cell phones!
Scientists have only speculated that non-ionizing radiation could indirectly lead to an increased cancer risk (such as by reducing melatonin, which could suppress cancer, although that is not certain either). Still, there is yet to be found any solid evidence for even indirect increased risks of cancer.
Meanwhile, ionizing radiation directly affects the DNA and damages it! But of course, eating a banana is not more dangerous than using a cell phone, because such low levels of radiation are not harmful.
In fact, taking a flight from New York to LA would result in around 40 uSV of exposure. That is a lot, but most people who are worried about cell phone radiation would not hesitate to take a flight to sunny California for a vacation to Disneyland.
The point is that there is a lot of hype about cell phone radiation, but most of it is overblown. The hype is largely due to the effect of social media and the way misinformation can be spread so easily.
People misunderstand the different types of radiation and how they affect your body. They aren’t educated on the presence of radiation in our everyday lives and don’t understand that it’s quite normal and unavoidable.
Around half of the radiation we get is naturally occurring, not the result of technology! Most people think that radiation is something new, but that’s not the case.
Only around half of the radiation we get is from man-made causes. In addition to cosmic rays, the earth itself gives off radiation, and so do we!
Yes, all humans have internal radiation from birth, so we are constantly exposing each other to small amounts of radiation. Sleeping next to someone will expose you to a small amount of radiation.
In total, the average American gets around 3mSV (milliSieverts) of natural radiation each year from the air, food, and water.
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Conclusion
While the iPhone 12 was briefly banned in France, this ban was lifted after a short while after Apple released a software update to fix the problem. It was not banned in countries like the United States, Canada, or Germany.
The iPhone 12 remains safe to use. In fact, radiation from cellular devices is a non-issue, for the most part, as it is non-ionizing radiation.
There is no evidence that non-ionizing radiation causes cancer. Meanwhile, while ionizing radiation can increase your risk of cancer, small amounts aren’t harmful; we are exposed to ionizing radiation from natural causes every day.
