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base unit connected to the phone wiring in a house, typically
operate at far lower per levels, and thus produce RF
exposures far below the FCC safety limits.
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 energy (RF) 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 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
don’t know with certainty what 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, glaucoma, 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 phones
RF exposures. However, none of the studies can answer
questions about long-term exposures, since average period
of phone use in these studies was around three years.
MetroA610.book Page 146 Tuesday, July 6, 2004 3:12 PM