Safety
FDA Consumer Update
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Devices and
Radiological Health Consumer Update on Mobile Phones:
1. Do wireless phones pose a health hazard?
The available scientific evidence does not show that any health problems are associated with using wireless phones. There is no proof, however, that wireless phones are absolutely safe. Wireless phones emit low levels of radiofrequency energy (RF) in the microwave range while being used. They also emit very low levels of RF when in the standby mode. Whereas high levels of RF can produce health effects (by heating tissue), exposure to low level RF that does not produce heating effects causes no known adverse health effects. Many studies of low level RF exposures have not found any biological effects. Some studies have suggested that some biological effects may occur, but such findings have not been confirmed by additional research. In some cases, other researchers have had difficulty in reproducing those studies, or in determining the reasons for inconsistent results.
2.What is the FDA's role concerning the safety of wireless phones?
Under the law, the FDA does not review the safety of radiation- emitting consumer products such as wireless phones before they can be sold, as it does with new drugs or medical devices. However, the agency has authority to take action if wireless phones are shown to emit radiofrequency energy (RF) at a level that is hazardous to the user. In such a case, the FDA could require the manufacturers of wireless phones to notify users of the health hazard and to repair, replace, or recall the phones so that the hazard no longer exists.
Although the existing scientific data do not justify FDA regulatory actions, the FDA has urged the wireless phone industry to take a number of steps, including the following:
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●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
●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.
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