Influencers Are Promoting $50 Straws They Claim Will Protect Against Electromagnetic Radiation

“Everyone asks me, ‘What’s up with this straw?” Sandra Fernandes says in the voice-over for a November 2025 Instagram Reel.

The influencer, who describes herself as a “detox coach,” “wellness leader,” and “holistic momma” in her Instagram bio, is drinking water out of a peculiar-looking, curved metal straw. With her lips pursed above a hole at the top, she looks a bit like one of those MySpace girls who took fingerstache selfies in the early 2010s.

“It’s not just any straw,” the voice-over continues. “It’s my frequency straw.” Fernandes then demonstrates its function, placing the straw between a phone charger and a small device she says is an electromagnetic frequency detector. She claims the EMF signal “stops instantly.” “When you drink with it, whether it’s your smoothie, juice, or water, you’re literally drinking protection,” she says. Those who are interested, she says in the caption, can comment “straw” below.

Fernandes is promoting an “EMF straw,” a trendy wellness product that users claim can protect against supposedly dangerous electromagnetic frequencies that come from products like cell phones, hair dryers, and microwaves. On Instagram and TikTok, there are dozens of videos of women with balayage hair and the word holistic in their bios singing the praises of such straws, claiming they can restore energy, heal the gut, and boost the immune system. The peculiar design, which features a hole in the middle of the straw rather than on the top, briefly went viral on TikTok a few years ago, with some beauty influencers claiming the product prevented mouth wrinkles. (It doesn’t.)

“It’s infused with 11 harmonic frequencies: one for grounding, one for immune support, and eight tuned to your body’s major organ systems,” the Detox Mentor, an influencer with more than 300,000 followers, writes in an Instagram post from last October, adding that it doesn’t only “help block EMF radiation,” it also “harmoniz[es] your cells and recharg[es] your energy from the inside out.” (None of the Instagram influencers I reached out to responded to requests for comment.)

The EMF straws are part of a broader industry of so-called “EMF-blocking” or “-neutralizing” products, including stickers, jewelry, clothing, glasses, and bags. Though none of these products are FDA-approved, the industry is gaining traction among health and wellness influencers, with NHL and UFC athletes collaborating with the EMF protection company AiresTech and Russell Brand promoting a $239.99 EMF-repelling “magical amulet” in a 2024 video. According to Google, searches for the term “EMF radiation protection” went up 1,300 percent in the US in the last 12 months.

The Federal Trade Commission has repeatedly issued complaints against such products for deceptive advertising, saying in a 2011 press release that “there is no scientific proof that so-called shields significantly reduce exposure” from EMF-emitting devices. A 2021 BBC investigation of supposedly radiation-blocking phone stickers also found that such products did not have any measurable effect.

As with most pseudoscience, there is a grain of truth in the concern over electromagnetic radiation. Prolonged exposure to high-frequency radiation produced by x-ray machines or the UV rays emitted by tanning beds is known to cause damage on the cellular level, which is thought by many researchers to raise the risk of certain types of cancer.

But consumer panic largely focuses on the lower-frequency, non-ionizing radiation used by or emitted by everyday electronic devices. And while research into the health effects of cell phones is ongoing, according to the National Cancer Institute, “few studies have reported evidence” of a relationship between non-ionizing EMFs and cancer.

Many of the influencers promoting EMF straws link to Frequense, a “frequency-based nutrition” company. Founded by Dave and Barb Pitcock, who claim on their website to have “over 23 years of experience in the network marketing industry,” the company sells jewelry, supplements, and accessories that purport to “restore harmony and energy for feeling good.” Frequense offers an affiliate marketing program, otherwise known as multi-level marketing (MLM).

The “lip-friendly stainless steel straw” promoted by Fernandes in her video sells for $50 on the Frequense website. The product description does not, however, state the benefits she purports in her video, saying only that the straw is a “beauty-meets-wellness essential—and a thoughtful gift for anyone who values both self-care and sustainability.” (The Pitcocks did not respond to requests for comment.)

Yet that hasn’t stopped many in the wellness industry from capitalizing on consumer anxiety over the purported links between EMFs and diseases like cancer. Even singer M.I.A. has gotten into the industry; in 2024 she went on Alex Jones’ pro-conspiracy theory podcast Infowars to announce a clothing line, Ohmni, that purports to block “99.99 per cent of Wi-Fi, 4G, and 5G.” (Ohmni did not respond to a request for comment.)

“Overall I'd say I'm pretty astonished at how many products can allegedly be turned into an EMF blocking version of itself—shirts, pants, hats, boxers, straws, necklaces, pet tags,” says Mallory Demille, a content creator who focuses on critiques of the wellness industry, and who made a video about EMF straws.

Despite the relative abundance of research concluding that exposure to low-level EMFs does not pose significant health risks, the anti-EMF product market continues to thrive. Thanks to decreasing public trust in the mainstream scientific establishment, as well as the popularity of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, wellness products with little to no demonstrated efficacy are once again taking over our feeds—and it helps if they are visually striking or Instagrammable, as is the case with anti-EMF straws.

Spending $50 on a stainless steel straw probably isn’t going to hurt you—but, much like butthole sunning, chugging raw milk, or vilifying M&Ms, or any other MAHA trend, it’ll probably make you look a little bit silly.