Filter
Top Products
Health and Safety Information 127
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 in reproducing those studies,
or in determining the reasons for inconsistent results.
3. What is FDA’s role concerning the safety of wireless phones?
Under the law, FDA does not review the safety of radiation emitting consumer products such as wireless phones before
they can be sold, as it does with new drugs or medical devices. However, the agency has authority to take action if
wireless phones are shown to emit radio frequency energy (RF) at a level that is hazardous to the user. In such a case,
FDA could require the manufacturers of wireless phones to notify users of the health hazard and to repair, replace or
recall the phones so that the hazard no longer exists.
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