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Appendix C: Consumer update on wireless phones
167
Appendix C: Consumer update
on wireless phones
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
1. 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 radio frequency 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 well within the
FCC’s compliance limits.
2. Do wireless phones pose a health hazard?
The available scientific evidence does not show that any health
problems are associated with using wireless phones. There is no
proof, however, that wireless phones are absolutely safe.
Wireless phones emit low levels of radio frequency energy (RF)
in the microwave range while being used. They also emit very
low levels of RF when in the stand-by mode. Whereas high
levels of RF can produce health effects (by heating tissue),
exposure to low level RF that does not produce heating effects
causes no known adverse health effects. Many studies of low
level RF exposures have not found any biological effects. Some
studies have suggested that some biological effects may occur,
but such findings have not been confirmed by additional
research. In some cases, other researchers have had difficulty