SAFETY

regulatory actions, the FDA has urged the wireless phone industry to take a number of steps, including the following:

Support needed research into possible biological effects of RF of the type emitted by wireless phones;

Design wireless phones in a way that minimizes any RF exposure to the user that is not necessary for device function; and

Cooperate in providing users of wireless phones with the best possible information on possible effects of wireless phone use on human health.

The FDA belongs to an interagency working group of the federal agencies that have responsibility for different aspects of RF safety to ensure coordinated efforts at the federal level. The following agencies belong to this working group:

National Institute for Occupational Safety and

 

Health

 

Environmental Protection Agency

SAFETY

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

National Telecommunications and Information

Administration

The National Institutes of Health participates in some

 

interagency working group activities, as well.

 

The FDA shares regulatory responsibilities for wireless

 

 

phones with the Federal Communications Commission

 

(FCC). All phones that are sold in the United States

 

must comply with FCC safety guidelines that limit RF

 

exposure. The FCC relies on the FDA and other health

 

agencies for safety questions about wireless phones.

 

The FCC also regulates the base stations that the

 

wireless phone networks rely upon. While these base

 

stations operate at higher power than do the wireless

 

phones themselves, the RF exposures that people get

 

from these base stations are typically thousands of

 

times lower than those they can get from wireless

phones. Base stations are thus not the subject of the safety questions discussed in this document.

3.What kinds of phones are the subject of this update?

The term “wireless phone” refers here to handheld wireless phones with built-in antennas, often called “cell”, “mobile”, or “PCS” phones. These types of wireless phones can expose the user to measurable Radio Frequency (RF) energy because of the short distance between the phone and the user’s head.

These RF exposures are limited by FCC safety guidelines that were developed with the advice of the 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 person's RF exposure decreases rapidly with increasing distance from the source. The so-called “cordless phones,” which have a base unit connected to the telephone wiring in a house, typically operate at far lower power levels, and thus produce RF exposures far below the FCC safety limits.

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 investigating the effects of Radio Frequency (RF) energy 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 pre-disposed to develop cancer in the absence of RF exposure. Other studies

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LG Electronics 200C manual What kinds of phones are the subject of this update?, Administration