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Safety
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,