Filter
Top Products
98 VX8300
Safety
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, 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 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 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 do not know with certainty what the
results of such studies mean for human health.
VX8300_2(E)_Rev1.3.qxd 2006.10.18 10:31 AM Page 98