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Health and safety information
•
Design wireless phones in a way that minimizes
any RF exposure to the user that is not necessary
for device function; and
•
Cooperate in providing users of wireless phones
with the best possible information on possible
effects of wireless phone use on human health
FDA belongs to an interagency working group of the
federal agencies that have responsibility for different
aspects of RF safety to ensure coordinated efforts at
the federal level. The following agencies belong to this
working group:
•
National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health
•
Environmental Protection Agency Federal
Communications Commission
•
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
•
National Telecommunications and Information
Administration
•
The National Institutes of Health participates in
some interagency working group activities, as well.
FDA shares regulatory responsibilities for wireless
phones with the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC). All phones that are sold in the
United States must comply with FCC safety
guidelines that limit RF exposure. FCC relies on
FDA and other health agencies for safety questions
about wireless phones.
FCC also regulates the base stations that the wireless
phone networks rely upon. While these base stations
operate at higher power than do the wireless phones
themselves, the RF exposures that people get from
these base stations are typically thousands of times
lower than those they can get from wireless phones.
Base stations are thus not the primary subject of the
safety questions discussed in this document.
4. What is FDA doing to find out more about the
possible health effects of wireless phone RF?
FDA is working with the U.S. National Toxicology
Program and with groups of investigators around the
world to ensure that high priority animal studies are
conducted to address important questions about the
effects of exposure to radio frequency energy (RF).
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