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following agencies belong to this
working group:
• National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health
• Environmental Protection
Agency
• Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (Administración
de la seguridad y salud
laborales)
• Occupational Safety and Health
Administration
• National Telecommunications
and Information Administration
The National Institutes of Health
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