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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
• Federal Communications Commission
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration
• National Telecommunications and Information Administration
The National Institutes of Health participates in some interagency
working group activities, as well.
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. FCC relies on FDA and other
health agencies for safety questions about wireless phones. 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 hand-held wireless
phones with built-in antennas, often called “cell,” “mobile,” or