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Negative Ion/Anti-5g Products Are Actually RADIOACTIVE

10 videos recommended on HN
YouTube
Cited on HN 10 times, 2020–2025, never outright recommended score 0
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN cites it as the debunking behind news stories about radioactive anti-5G pendants and wellness trinkets sold on Amazon.

The Thought Emporium tests so-called negative ion and anti-5G wellness products and finds they are radioactive, with some coated in powdered thorium.

“the maker went to debunk the negative ion energy bands, only to discover some of them had highly dangerous powdered thorium coating them.” (HN, 2021)

10 citations · Explainers · partly dated

10 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@dimnsionofsound Feb 2020 Cites it
on HN thread Which of these Amazon Prime purchases are real?
Mildly related, here’s another instance of harmful things you can buy on Amazon: “negative ion” trinkets that are actually radioactive [1]. [1]: [this video]
Negative ion trinkets that turn out to be radioactive
@0zelot May 2020 Cites it
on HN thread DIY Particle Detector
Read more
Yes, radon is pretty hilarious and spreads in very unexpected ways. Completely wrapping sources of radon like uranium or thorium minerals (or these bracelets containing some of that), only holds back the diffusion process for some time unless the shielding is really thick and very dense. That's why radon accumulates so well in household cellars, it penetrates concrete walls easily. If you look closely in thought emporiums video (link below), the thick clouds - representing each the full paths of individual alpha particles (from the point of decay until full absorption in the air) - don't originate right at the surface of his shielding materials (paper, chicken skin... whatever). Instead, the alpha particle clouds stand by themselves in free space and can only really stem from radon that decided to decay at those positions somewhere outside of the shielding (transforming to "solid" polonium in that process and sticking itself to the next closest lump of molecules/dust). If the alpha particles would penetrate the shieldings (which they can't because of too much material/density), we would see clouds stemming directly from the shielding surfaces which I don't see happening: [this video] You may find and like my comment there, maybe it helps to fight some misconceptions about natural radioactivity. ;-)
Cloud chamber footage showing alpha particle tracks from radon
@6r1d Jul 2021 Cites it
on HN thread Even if you’re paying, you’re still the product
> This is how a free market works. Said free market tends to create weird customs that are not necessarily good for the most of us. Someone once said radiation has healing properties and last radioactive items for healing appeared, oh well, on Amazon. [this video] and before that, there's a museum of the same stuff [link] Note that I am not saying the regulator can not or will not abuse their rights. This is a big issue and I'm not competent enough to say where I'm leaning there. I only disagree with "free market will lead to the best solution by itself".
@derefr Dec 2021 Cites it
on HN thread Lead exposure from routine consumption of coffee and tea from ceramic mugs
Read more
> If you can't trust the origins of pottery on Amazon, why can you trust the origins of anything on Amazon? Because many (most?) categories of goods are consolidated into an effective oligopoly of reputable brands, where these brands push competitors out of the market in basically every respect — in brand-recognition, in advertising payments, in number of reviews, in review score, in "link juice", etc. So even when there are garbage Shenzhen e-waste products being marketed on the same website, in the same category as the thing you're looking for, you won't see them if there are real products to be had, because the first five pages are all the real products. (Unless you're doing very specific searches, using very unusual keywords that the well-known brands would never think to buy.) This is why the experience of shopping on Amazon is a different experience than shopping on a site like Wish or AliExpress: Amazon has both the e-waste and the stuff from well-known brands, and if you stay "on the happy path" of using the site, you'll end up mostly seeing stuff from well-known brands. The only time this falls down is when there are no reputable brands in a category. Such as in the category of kitsch stoneware. For those categories, Amazon and Wish/AliExpress become effectively the same site. > And if you can't trust the origins of anything, you can't count on safety regulations and standards that you take for granted. I mean... most of the things I buy on Amazon, I'm not putting in
@colanderman Dec 2021 Cites it
on HN thread Anti-5G “quantum pendants” are radioactive
The product pictured featured in an exposé of such junk in a pair of Thought Emporium videos a year ago [1] [2], the former of which apparently resulted in several of the products being pulled from Amazon (as reported in the second video). [1] [this video] [2] [link]
Expose of such junk products, leading to some being pulled from Amazon
@e2le Jun 2025 Cites it
on HN thread Plutonium Mountain: The 17-year mission to guard remains of Soviet nuclear tests (2013)
Not entirely related. Some scam health products are made with radioactive material[0,1] (thorium dioxide) and can be found in wands, baby clothing, pendents, cards, wristbands, face cream, toothbrushes, and more. Even more concerning given that these products will shed that radioactive material into the environment and be ingested by humans. The "quantum wands" as shown in the YouTube video are filled with a sizeable quantity of thorium dioxide powder and is possible to forcibly open. They are illegal but continue to be sold. [0]: [this video] [1]: [link]
Quantum wands filled with thorium dioxide powder
@IlikeKitties Aug 2025 Cites it
on HN thread The unlikely revival of nuclear batteries
If you knew how bad it really is: [this video] Anyway here's where you can order bulk capsule of americium: [link] Thorium oxide powder [link] That should get you started repeating the atomic boyscouts experiments straigt from china. If the thorium oxide isn't to your liking in bulk, it's been sold as a "negative ion" product to gullible esoteric idiots and widely available. Edit: you might also need some beryllium for the neutron gun, you can get that on ebay [link] Anyway, i'm on a whole lot of fbi lists now

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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