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Health and safety information
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 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 phones RF exposures.
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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.
What research is needed to decide whether RF
exposure from wireless phones poses a health
risk?
A combination of laboratory studies and
epidemiological studies of people actually using
wireless phones 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 time
tumors develop - if they do - may be many, many
years. The interpretation of epidemiological studies is
hampered by difficulties in measuring actual RF
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