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FDA CONSUMER UPDATE
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. FCC relies on FDA and other health agencies
for safety questions about wireless phones. 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 them-
selves, 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 hand-held
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 Federal Communications
Commission safety guidelines that were developed
with the advice of FDA and other federal health and
safety agencies. When the phone is located at greater
distances from the user, the exposure to RF is drasti-
cally 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.
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