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Safety
participates in some interagency
working group activities, as well.
The FDA shares regulatory
responsibilities for wireless
phones with the Federal
Communications Commission
(FCC). All phones that are sold
in the United States must comply
with FCC safety guidelines that
limit RF exposure.
The FCC relies on the FDA and
other health agencies for safety
questions about wireless phones.
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 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