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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 Radio Frequency
(RF) energy 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 conditions
under which people use wireless phones, so we do not 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
longterm 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 proof of a cancer promoting effect if one