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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 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 predisposed
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