99
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 exposed the animals
to RF for up to 22 hours per day.
These conditions are not similar
to the conditions under which
people use wireless phones, so
we do not know with certainty
what the results of such studies
mean for human health. Three
large epidemiology studies have
been published since December
2000. Between them, the
studies investigated any possible
association between the use of
wireless phones and primary brain
cancer, glioma, meningioma, or
acoustic neuroma, tumors of the
brain or salivary gland, leukemia, or
other cancers. None of the studies
demonstrated the existence of
any harmful health effects from
wireless phone RF exposures.
However, none of the studies can
answer questions about long-term
exposures, since the average period
of phone use in these studies was
around three years.