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26
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.
3. What kinds of phones
are the subject of this
update?
The term ‘wireless phone’
refers here to handheld
wireless phones with built-in
antennas, often called
‘cell’, ‘mobile’, or ‘PCS’
phones. These types of
wireless phones can expose
the user to measurable
radiofrequency energy
(RF) because of the short
distance between the phone
and the user’s head. 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
Safety Guidelines