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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 investi-
gating 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 pub-
lished since December 2000. Between them, the
studies investigated any possible association
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United States must comply with FCC safety guide-
lines that limit RF exposure. FCC relies on FDA and
other health agencies for safety questions about
wireless phones.
FCC also regulates the base stations that the wire-
less 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 hand-held
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 dis-
tance between the phone and the user’s head.
These RF exposures are limited by Federal
Communications Commission safety guidelines that
were developed with the advice of 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 per-
son's RF exposure decreases rapidly with increasing
distance from the source. The so-called "cordless
Chapter 6
Safety Guidelines