Filter
Top Products
SAFETY AND WARRANTY
FDA CONSUMER UPDATE
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 radiofrequency energy (RF)
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 predisposed 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 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 phones
and primary brain cancer, glioma, meningioma, or acoustic neu-roma,
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 phone RF exposures. However, none of the studies can
answer questions about long-term exposures, since the average period of
phone use in these studies was around three years.
5. What research is needed to decide whether RF exposure from
wireless phones poses a health risk?
A combination of laboratory studies and epidemiological studies
of people actually using wireless phones 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, but 10 or more years’ follow-up may be needed
to provide answers about some health effects, such as cancer. This is
because the interval between the time of exposure to a cancer-causing
agent and the time tumors develop - if they do -may be many, many
years. The interpretation of epidemiological studies is hampered by
difficulties in measuring actual RF exposure during day-to-day use of
wireless phones. Many factors affect this measurement, such as the angle
at which the phone is held, or which model of phone is used.
148