Why the concern?

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U.S. FDA

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The U.S. Food and Drug Admin- istration's (FDA) Center for Devices and Radiological Health Consumer Update on Mobile Phones

FDA has been receiving inquiries about the safety of mobile phones, including cellular phones and PCS phones. The following summarizes what is know – and what remains unknown – about whether these products can pose a hazard to health, and what can be done to minimize any potential risk. This information may be used to respond to questions.

Mobile phones emit low levels of radio frequency energy (i.e., radio frequency radiation) in the micro- wave range while being used. They also emit very low levels of radio fre- quency energy (RF), considered non- significant, when in the stand-by mode. It is well known that high lev- els of RF can produce biological dam- age through heating effects (this is how your microwave oven is able to cook food). However, it is not known whether, to what extent, or through what mechanism, lower levels of RF might cause adverse health effects as well. Although some research has

been done to address these ques- tions, no clear picture of the biologi- cal effects of this type of radiation has emerged to date. Thus, the avail- able science does not allow us to conclude that mobile phones are absolutely safe, or that they are unsafe. However, the available sci- entific evidence does not demon- strate adverse health effects associ- ated with the use of mobile phones.

What kinds of phones are in question?

Questions have been raised about hand-held mobile phones, the kind that have a built-in antenna that is positioned close to the user's head during normal telephone conversa- tion. These types of mobile phones are of concern because of the short distance between the phone's antenna – the primary source of the RF – and the person's head. The exposure to RF from mobile phones in which the antenna is located at greater distances from the user (on the outside of a car, for example) is drastically lower than that from hand-held phones, because a per- son's RF exposure decreases rapidly with distance from the source. The safety of so-called "cordless phones", which have a base unit connected to the telephone wiring in a house and which operate at far lower power levels and frequencies, has not been questioned.

en; VAR issue date: 040413