Palm 650 User Manual page 328

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.
316 Section 5A: Safety