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Safety Guidelines
made at different laboratories on the same phone.
SAR is the measurement of the amount of energy
absorbed in tissue, either by the whole body or a
small part of the body. It is measured in watts/kg (or
milliwatts/g) of matter. This measurement is used to
determine whether a wireless phone complies with
safety guidelines.
9. What steps can I take to reduce my exposure to
radiofrequency energy from my wireless phone?
If there is a risk from these products - and at this
point we do not know that there is - it is probably
very small. But if you are concerned about avoiding
even potential risks, you can take a few simple steps
to minimize your exposure to radiofrequency energy
(RF). Since time is a key factor in how much exposure
a person receives, reducing the amount of time spent
using a wireless phone will reduce RF exposure. If
you must conduct extended conversations by
wireless phone every day, you could place more
distance between your body and the source of the
RF, since the exposure level drops off dramatically
with distance. For example, you could use a headset
and carry the wireless phone away from your body or
use a wireless phone connected to a remote
antenna. Again, the scientific data do not
demonstrate that wireless phones are harmful. But if
you are concerned about the RF exposure from these
products, you can use measures like those described
above to reduce your RF exposure from wireless
phone use.
10. What about children using wireless phones?
The scientific evidence does not show a danger to
users of wireless phones, including children and
teenagers. If you want to take steps to lower
exposure to radiofrequency energy (RF), the
measures described above would apply to children
and teenagers using wireless phones. Reducing the
time of wireless phone use and increasing the
distance between the user and the RF source will
reduce RF exposure. Some groups sponsored by
other national governments have advised that
children be discouraged from using wireless
phones at all. For example, the government in the
United Kingdom distributed leaflets containing such
a recommendation in December 2000. They noted
that no evidence exists that using a wireless phone
causes brain tumors or other ill effects. Their
recommendation to limit wireless phone use by