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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
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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 subject of the safety
questions discussed in this document.
3. 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 radiofrequency energy (RF) because
of the short distance between the phone and the
users 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
FDA update on wireless phones
55
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