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Health and safety information
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 radio frequency energy (RF)
exposures characteristic of wireless USB dongles 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 pre-disposed to develop cancer in
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 USB dongles, 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 USB dongles and primary brain cancer,
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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 USB dongles RF
exposures. However, none of the studies can answer
questions about long-term exposures, since the
average period of USB dongle use in these studies was
around three years.
What research is needed to decide whether RF
exposure from wireless USB dongles poses a
health risk?
A combination of laboratory studies and epidemiological
studies of people actually using wireless USB dongles
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 ten 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
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