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Chapter 16. Safety and warranty
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 inter-agency
working group activities, as well. 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 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
subjects of the safety questions discussed in this document.
3. What kinds of phones are the subjects 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 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.
FDA CONSUMER UPDATE