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8 Guidelines for Safe and Efficient Use
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FDA is currently working with government, industry, and
academic groups to ensure the proper follow-up to these industry-
funded research findings. Collaboration with the Cellular
Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) in particular is
expected to lead to FDA providing research recommendations and
scientific oversight of new CTIA-funded research based on such
recommendations.
Two other studies of interest have been reported recently in the
literature:
1 Two groups of 18 people were exposed to simulated mobile phone
signals under laboratory conditions while they performed cognitive
function tests. There were no changes in the subjects’ ability to
recall words, numbers, or pictures, or in their spatial memory, but
they were able to make choices more quickly in one visual test
when they were exposed to simulated mobile phone signals. This
was the only change noted among more than 20 variables
compared.
3
2 In a study of 209 brain tumor cases and 425 matched controls,
there was no increased risk of brain tumors associated with mobile
phone use. When tumors did exist in certain locations, however,
they were more likely to be on the side of the head where the
mobile phone was used. Because this occurred in only a small
number of cases, the increased likelihood was too small to be
statistically significant.
4
In summary, we do not have enough information at this point to
assure the public that there are, or are not, any low incident health
problems associated with use of mobile phones. FDA continues to
work with all parties, including other federal agencies and industry,
to assure that research is undertaken to provide the necessary answers
to the outstanding questions about the safety of mobile phones.
What is known about cases of human cancer that have
been reported in users of hand-held mobile phones?
Some people who have used mobile phones have been diagnosed
with brain cancer. But it is important to understand that this type of
cancer also occurs among people who have not used mobile phones.
In fact, brain cancer occurs in the U.S. population at
a rate of about 6 new cases per 100,000 people each year. At that
rate, assuming 80 million users of mobile phones (a number
increasing at a rate of about 1 million per month), about 4800 cases
of brain cancer would be expected each year among those
80 million people, whether or not they used their phones. Thus it is
not possible to tell whether any individual’s cancer arose because of
the phone, or whether it would have happened anyway. A key
question is whether the risk of getting a particular form of cancer is
greater among people who use mobile phones than among the rest of
the population. One way to answer that question is to compare the
usage of mobile phones among people with brain cancer with the use
of mobile phones among appropriately matched people without brain
cancer. This is called a case-control study.
The current case-control study of brain cancers by the National
Cancer Institute, as well as the follow-up research to be sponsored by
industry, will begin to generate this type of information.
What is FDA’s role concerning the safety of mobile
phones?
Under the law, FDA does not review the safety of radiation-emitting
consumer products such as mobile phones before marketing, as it
does with new drugs or medical devices. However, the agency has
authority to take action if mobile phones are shown to emit radiation
at a level that is hazardous to the user. In such a case, FDA could
require the manufacturers of mobile phones to notify users of the