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Safety Guidelines
source. The so-called ‘cordless phones,’
which have a base unit connected to the
telephone wiring in a house, typically
operate at far lower power levels, and thus
produce RF exposures far below the FCC
safety limits.
4. 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 radiofrequency 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 the 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 the 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, glioma, 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 phone RF exposures. However,
none of the studies can answer questions
about long-term exposures, since the
average period of phone use in these studies
was around three years.
5. What research is needed to decide
whether RF exposure from wireless
phones poses a health risk?
A combination of laboratory studies and
epidemiological studies of people actually
using wireless phones would provide some
of the data that are needed. Lifetime animal
exposure studies could be completed in a
few years. However, very large numbers of
animals would be needed to provide reliable
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