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Safety
The final draft, a joint ef fort by FDA, medical dev ice manufacturers, and
many other groups, was complete d in late 2000. This standard wi ll allow
manufacturers to ensure t hat cardiac pacemaker s and defibrillators are
safe from wireless phone EMI.
FDA has tested hearing aids fo r interference from han dheld wireless
phones and helped devel op a voluntary standard s ponsored by the
Institute of Electrical and El ectronic Engineers ( IEEE). This standard
specifies test method s and performance re quirements for hearing a ids
and wireless phones s o that no interference occ urs when a person uses
a “compatible” phone and a “com patible” hearing aid at the s ame time.
This standard was approved by the I EEE in 2000.
FDA continues to monitor the use of wi reless phones for poss ible
interactions with other med ical devices. Should ha rmful interference be
found to occur, FDA will conduct testin g to assess the interferen ce and
work to resolve the problem.
For more information, pleas e visit the FDA website at
http://www.fda.gov (under “c” i n the subject index, select C ell Phones
> Research).
Emergency Calls
Never rely solely upon your w ireless phone for essenti al
communications (e.g., medic al emergencies), i f it can be
avoided, since a wireless p hone requires a complex co mbination of
radio signals, relay statio ns and landline networ ks for its operation.
Consequently, emergency c alls may not always be possibl e under
all conditions on all wireless phone systems. Your wireless phone,
however, may sometimes be the only availab le means of communication
at the scene of an accident. Wh en making an emergency c all, always
give the recipient all nec essary informatio n as accurately as possible.
Never terminate an emergen cy call until you have received cl earance to
do so.