palmOne Vision Smart Device Treo 650 User Manual page 297

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 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.
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 pre-
disposed 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.
Safety 285