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Safety Guidelines
74
on possible effects of wireless phone use
on human health.
The FDA belongs to an interagency working
group of the federal agencies that have
responsibility for different aspects 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
] Occupational Safety and Health
Administration
] National Telecommunications and
Information Administration
The National Institutes of Health participates
in some 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 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
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