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Using Your Treo 700P Smartphone 294
Regulatory information
FDA belongs to an interagency working group of the federal
agencies that have responsibility for different aspects of RF safety
to ensure coordinated efforts at the federal level. The following
agencies belong to this working group:
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Environmental Protection Agency
Federal Communications Commission
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
The National Institutes of Health participates in some interagency
working group activities, as well.
FDA shares regulatory responsibilities for wireless
smartphones with the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC). All smartphones that are sold in the United States must
comply with FCC safety guidelines that limit RF exposure. FCC
relies on FDA and other health agencies for safety questions
about wireless smartphones.
FCC also regulates the base stations that the wireless
smartphone networks rely upon. While these base stations
operate at higher power than do the wireless smartphones
themselves, the RF exposures that people get from these base
stations are typically thousands of times lower than those they
can get from wireless smartphones. Base stations are thus not
the primary subject of the safety questions discussed in this
document.
What kinds of smartphones are the subject of this
update? The term “wireless smartphone” refers here to hand-
held wireless smartphones with built-in antennas, often called
“cell,” “mobile,” or “PCS” smartphones. These types of wireless
smartphones can expose the user to measurable radiofrequency
energy (RF) because of the short distance between the
smartphone and the user's head. These RF exposures are limited
by Federal Communications Commission safety guidelines that
were developed with the advice of FDA and other federal health
and safety agencies. When the smartphone 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
smartphones,” 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 well within the FCC's
compliance limits.
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 radiofrequency
energy (RF) exposures characteristic of wireless smartphones
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 smartphones, so we
don't 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 smartphones
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 smartphone RF
exposures. However, none of the studies can answer questions
about long-term exposures, since the average period of
smartphone use in these studies was around three years.
What research is needed to decide whether RF exposure
from wireless smartphones poses a health risk?
A combination of laboratory studies and epidemiological studies
of people actually using wireless smartphones 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 exists. Epidemiological studies
can provide data that is directly applicable to human populations,