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Health and Safety Information 130
Although the existing scientific data do not justify FDA regulatory actions, FDA has urged the wireless phone
industry to take a number of steps, including the following:
•
Support needed research into possible biological effects of RF of the type emitted by wireless phones;
•
Design wireless phones in a way that minimizes any RF exposure to the user that is not necessary for device function; and
•
Cooperate in providing users of wireless phones with the best possible information on possible effects of wireless phone use
on human health.
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 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 primary subject of the safety questions discussed in this document.
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 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 pre-disposed to develop cancer in absence of RF exposure. Other studies exposed the animals to RF for up to
t559.book Page 130 Friday, June 19, 2009 11:09 AM