
Does your comfortable fluoroelastomer smartwatch band contain toxic chemicals that can transfer through your skin and cause health problems? A scientific study suggests yes, but smartwatch brands like Apple and Google convince me otherwise — at least Their Straps
Late last year, the nonprofit American Chemical Society launched a A damning and relevant report“Presence of Perfluorohexanoic Acid in Fluoroelastomer Watch Bands,” Wicks et al. , suggesting that the most common watch bands of the last few years contain high levels of PFAS and PFHxA compounds. Potential adverse health effects Liver, thyroid and other organs as well as cancer.
The news made the rounds on consumer tech sites, and most readers had reason to be concerned: fluoroelastomer is one of the most common band materials for mainstream watches, alongside silicone.
However, the study said no Which All of the smartwatch straps they tested contained toxic chemicals, except they purchased 22 bands from Amazon and Best Buy in 2023 from “various brands and price points” and found fluoroelastomer in 13 of the 22 bands tested. Advertised.
I got my hands on the full paywalled report, which shows how they used particle-induced gamma-ray emission and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry to determine which bands contained fluoride, PFAS, or PFHxA chemicals are present. The first is the expected component in the fluoroelastomer band. The latter two are potentially dangerous if ingested.
Of the 13 bands advertised as fluoroelastomers, seven had significant PFAS/PFHxA chemical concentrations, while six had no or safely negligible concentrations. Of the other nine – possibly using silicone or other common strapping materials – only one There was a high PFAS/PFHxA concentration, and a high fluoride percentage suggesting that this could be a disguised fluoroelastomer band.
What does this tell us? Fluoroelastomer bands are not. Naturally Dangerous because some brands remove or avoid using harmful chemicals in their manufacturing. The problem is that the majority of brands don’t bother to do this, either out of negligence or ignorance of the implications. And we don’t know which brands these are.
Will your fluoroelastomer band really make you sick?
Ingesting or inhaling PFAS compounds is dangerous, but most people don’t ingest their smartwatch straps. The question is whether or not it is possible for these chemicals to “dermally absorb” over the years of wearing your smartwatch.
The team behind the ACS report can only give a vague answer to this question because “skin absorption of PFAS is poorly described” in a few small studies. But since people wear smartwatches for 12+ hours per day, this “provides significant transfer to the dermis and subsequent human exposure.”
They specifically suggest that wearing fitness smartwatches for exercise may pose an additional risk of “excess sweat contact and open skin pores” — though thankfully many fitness watches are equipped with sweat-wicking silicone or Defaults to nylon bands.
The research cites tests on mice that show PFAS and PFHxA will be absorbed into your organs and bloodstream if applied to the skin. a “In vitro The human skin equivalent model “absorbs” more than 50% of the PFHxA exposure dose.
Despite all that scary language, this is an educated guess, not a certainty. It is unclear how much PFAS and PFHxA will move into your body over time and whether they will ever reach high enough levels to pose a health risk.
The study itself concludes that the findings “highlight an important need for more comprehensive exposure studies of PFHxA arising from fluoroelastomer watch bands worn on human skin.” They never conclude a direct relationship between wearing a fluoroelastomer band and getting sick.
Some fluoroelastomer bands contain toxic chemicals, but we don’t know if they actually transfer through your skin, or if they’re enough to cause long-term damage.
A parallel to this fear-mongering study is the recent frenzy about black plastic cookware and advanced flame-retardant pans. The New York Times), with evidence suggesting that these chemicals can leach into your food over time, especially in the presence of high cooking temperatures and oil.
This report may have led to the widespread discarding of black plastic spatulas, but it was later revealed in 2024 that scientists Made a math error Which magnifies the problem 10X, making it look worse than before. And really, the only way that retardants will transfer to your food in significant amounts is if you leave your spatula sitting in hot oil for a few minutes at a time, which most people don’t naturally do. will do
My point is that you can definitely replace your fluoroelastomer band. If you are concerned, there are many alternatives to watch bands such as silicone, nylon, metal and leather. However, until there is concrete evidence of this Description or The effect Regarding dermal PFAS/PFHxA absorption in humans, you shouldn’t be alarmed by the years you’ve spent wearing fluoroelastomer straps.
Plus, yours A fluoroelastomer band may contain no PFAS or PFHxA chemicals to begin with!
Brands like Apple and Google say their bands are safe.
I emailed my contacts at Apple, Google, and Samsung about the report, asking if they had any comments on the findings, whether their customers had reason to switch bands, and so on. They will replace any manufacturing process in the future.
Samsung has yet to get back to me, but Apple and Google have readily shared white papers showing they are already aware of the potential risks and are actively removing PFAS from their smartwatch bands. Remove.
“Pixel Watchbands meet industry standards for PFAS,” Google told Android Central. “We actively limit PFAS in our products and are committed to reducing PFAS to levels required by law.” His White paper referring to PFAS, saying it would avoid “detectable levels” or up to 25 ppb of the compound in any device.
Apple’s statement echoes Google’s, and the company shared its 2022 white paper outlining its PFAS policy.
“More than a decade ago, we successfully eliminated two PFAS members — PFAS and PFOA — from our products,” Apple told Android Central. “Apple is working to eliminate PFAS from all of our products and manufacturing processes, including engaging with all of our supply chain partners and developing safer alternatives.”
I’ll update this post if Samsung responds, but I found Samsung Electronics’ standards for controlling substances used in products, which list PFAS among its “potentially hazardous substances” and lists PFHxA on its list of “restricted substances” with 25 μg/. Maximum kg; However, it lists July 2026–2027 as an implementation date, so it is possible that it was (or currently is) used in “textiles related to skin”.
At the very least, it’s reassuring that the biggest smartwatch brands have recognized the dangers of toxic compounds in smartwatch straps and taken steps to remove them. It’s possible that the two PFAS-free fluoroelastomer bands in the 2023 study came from the Apple Watch S9 and Pixel Watch 2.
If your Android watch comes from another brand, I still urge you not to worry prematurely. But most brands offer an easy way to change the strap if you don’t want to stress about it, and we’ve got guides on alternative bands — like the Galaxy Watch 7 band — if you’re shopping around. want