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FDA Consumer Update
69
far below the FCC safety limits.
4. 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 radiofrequency 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 predisposed to develop cancer in the absence of RF exposure.
Other studies exposed the animals to RF for up to 22 hours per day. These
conditions are not similar to the conditions under which people use
wireless phones, so we don’t know with certainty what the results of such
studies mean for human health. Three large epidemiology studies have
been published since December 2000. Between them, the studies
investigated any possible association between the use of wireless phones
and primary brain cancer, glioma, meningioma, or acoustic neuroma,
tumors of the brain or salivary gland, leukemia, or other cancers. None of
the studies demonstrated the existence of any harmful health effects from
wireless phone RF exposures. However, none of the studies can answer
questions about long-term exposures, since the average period of phone
use in these studies was around three years.
5. What research is needed to decide whether RF exposure from
wireless phones poses a health risk?
A combination of laboratory studies and epidemiological studies of people
actually using wireless phones would provide some of the data that are
needed. Lifetime animal exposure studies could be completed in a few
years. However, very large numbers of animals would be needed to
provide reliable proof of a cancer promoting effect if one exists.
Epidemiological studies can provide data that is directly applicable to
human populations, but 10 or more years’ follow-up may be needed to
provide answers about some health effects, such as cancer. This is
because the interval between the time of exposure to a cancer-causing
agent and the time tumors develop - if they do - may be many, many years.