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•
Support needed research into possible biological
effects of RF of the type emitted by wireless phones;
•
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
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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.
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
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