3.What kinds of phones are the subject of this update?
The term “wireless phone” refers here to
These RF exposures are limited by Federal Communications Commission safety guidelines that were developed with the advice of FDA and other federal health and safety agencies. When the phone is located at greater distances from the user, the exposure to RF is drastically lower because a per- son's RF exposure decreases rapidly with increasing distance from the source. The
4.What are the results of the research done already?
The research done thus far has produced conflicting results, and many studies have suffered from flaws in their research methods. Animal experiments investi- gating the effects of radiofrequency energy (RF) exposures characteristic of wireless phones have yielded conflicting results that often cannot be repeated in other laboratories. A few animal studies,
however, have suggested that low levels of RF could accelerate the development of cancer in laboratory animals. However, many of the studies that showed increased tumor development used animals that had been genetically engineered or treated with cancer- causing chemicals so as to be
Three large epidemiology studies have been pub- lished since December 2000. Between them, the studies investigated any possible association between the use of wireless phones and primary brain cancer, glioma, meningioma, or acoustic neu- roma, tumors of the brain or salivary gland, leukemia, or other cancers. None of the studies demonstrated the existence of any harmful health effects from wire- less phone RF exposures. However, none of the studies can answer questions about
5.What research is needed to decide whether RF exposure from wireless phones poses a health risk?
A combination of laboratory studies and epidemio- logical studies of people actually using wireless
Chapter 10
Safety Guidelines
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