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Potential areas may include: fueling areas
(such as gasoline stations); below deck on
boats; fuel or chemical transfer or storage
facilities; vehicles using liquefied petroleum
gas (such as propane or butane); areas
where the air contains chemicals or particles
(such as grain, dust, or metal powders); and
any other area where you would normally be
advised to turn off your vehicle engine.
For Vehicles Equipped with an Air
Bag
An air bag inflates with great force. DO NOT
place objects, including either installed or
portable wireless equipment, in the area over
the air bag or in the air bag deployment area.
If in-vehicle wireless equipment is improperly
installed and the air bag inflates, serious
injury could result.
FDA Consumer Update
The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration's Center for
Devices and Radiological Health Consumer
Update on Mobile Phones:
1. 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 (RF)
energy in the microwave range while being
used. They also emit very low levels of RF
when in idle 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.
2. What is the FDA's role concerning the
safety of wireless phones?
Under the law, the 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 (RF) energy
at a level that is hazardous to the user. In
such a case, the 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 does not
justify FDA regulatory actions, the 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
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