Motorola iDEN i205 User Manual page 106

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Devices and Radiological Health Consumer Update
In summary, we do not have enough information at
this point to assure the public that there are, or are
not, any low incident health problems associated with
use of mobile phones. FDA continues to work with all
parties, including other federal agencies and industry,
to assure that research is undertaken to provide the
necessary answers to the outstanding questions
about the safety of mobile phones.
What is known about cases of human
cancer that have been reported in users
of hand-held mobile phones?
Some people who have used mobile phones have
been diagnosed with brain cancer. But it is important
to understand that this type of cancer also occurs
among people who have not used mobile phones. In
fact, brain cancer occurs in the U.S. population at a
rate of about 6 new cases per 100,000 people each
year. At that rate, assuming 80 million users of mobile
phones (a number increasing at a rate of about 1
million per month), about 4800 cases of brain cancer
would be expected each year among those 80 million
people, whether or not they used their phones. Thus
it is not possible to tell whether any individual's
cancer arose because of the phone, or whether it
would have happened anyway. A key question is
whether the risk of getting a particular form of cancer
is greater among people who use mobile phones
than among the rest of the population. One way to
98
answer that question is to compare the usage of
mobile phones among people with brain cancer with
the use of mobile phones among appropriately
matched people without brain cancer. This is called a
case-control study. The current case-control study of
brain cancers by the National Cancer Institute, as
well as the follow-up research to be sponsored by
industry, will begin to generate this type of
information.
What is FDA's role concerning the
safety of mobile phones?
Under the law, FDA does not review the safety of
radiation-emitting consumer products such as mobile
phones before marketing, as it does with new drugs
or medical devices. However, the agency has
authority to take action if mobile phones are shown to
emit radiation at a level that is hazardous to the user.
In such a case, FDA could require the manufacturers
of mobile phones to notify users of the health hazard
and to repair, replace or recall the phones so that the
hazard no longer exists.
Although the existing scientific data do not justify
FDA regulatory actions at this time, FDA has urged
the mobile phone industry to take a number of steps
to assure public safety. The agency has
recommended that the industry: