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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 Radio
Frequency (RF) energy 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
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