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Safety
animal studies are cond ucted to address importa nt questions about the
effects of exposure to radiof requency energy (RF ).
FDA has been a leading par ticipant in the World Healt h Organization
International Electrom agnetic Fields (EMF ) Project since its inceptio n in
1996. An influential result of th is work has been the developm ent of a
detailed agenda of resea rch needs that has driven th e establishment of
new research programs ar ound the world. The Project ha s also helped
develop a series of public in formation documents on EMF is sues.
FDA and the Cellular Telecommu nications & Internet Asso ciation (CTIA)
have a formal Cooperative Res earch and Development Agre ement
(CRADA) to do research o n wireless phone safety. FDA provi des
the scientific oversight, o btaining input from exper ts in government,
industry, and academic org anizations. CTIA-funded re search is
conducted through contrac ts to independent investigato rs. The initial
research will include b oth laboratory studies a nd studies of wireless
phone users.
The CRADA will also inclu de a broad assessment of add itional research
needs in the context of the lates t research developments a round the
world.
kWhat steps can I take to r educe my exposure to radiofrequen cy energy from my wirele ss phone?If there is a risk from these pro ducts—and at this point we do not know
that there is—it is probably ver y small.
But if you are concerned ab out avoiding even potential ris ks, you can
take a few simple steps to minimize yo ur exposure to radiofrequen cy
energy (RF). Sin ce time is a key factor in how much expo sure a person
receives, reducing the a mount of time spent using a wir eless phone will
reduce RF exposure.
• If you must conduct extended c onversations by wireless ph one every
day, you could place more distance b etween your body and the
source of the RF, since the exposure level dro ps off dramatically with