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Safety Guidelines
10.What about children using wireless phones?
The scientific evidence does not show a danger to users of wireless
phones, including children and teenagers. If you want to take steps to
lower exposure to radiofrequency energy (RF), the measures described
above would apply to children and teenagers using wireless phones.
Reducing the time of wireless phone use and increasing the distance
between the user and the RF source will reduce RF exposure.
Some groups sponsored by other national governments have advised
that children be discouraged from using wireless phones at all. For
example, the government in the United Kingdom distributed leaflets
containing such a recommendation in December 2000. They noted that
no evidence exists that using a wireless phone causes brain tumors or
other ill effects. Their recommendation to limit wireless phone use by
children was strictly precautionary; it was not based on scientific
evidence that any health hazard exists.
11.What about wireless phone interference with medical
equipment?
Radio frequency energy (RF) from wireless phones can interact with
some electronic devices. For this reason, the FDA helped develop a
detailed test method to measure electromagnetic interference (EMI) of
implanted cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators from wireless
telephones. This test method is now part of a standard sponsored by the
Association for the Advancement of Medical instrumentation (AAMI).
The final draft, a joint effort by the FDA, medical device
manufacturers, and many other groups, was completed in late 2000.
This standard will allow manufacturers to ensure that cardiac
pacemakers and defibrillators are safe from wireless phone EMI.
The FDA has tested hearing aids for interference from handheld
wireless phones and helped develop a voluntary standard sponsored by
the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). This
standard specifies test methods and performance requirements for
hearing aids and wireless phones so that no interference occurs when a
person uses a ‘compatible’ phone and a ‘compatible’ hearing aid at the