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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 subject of the safety
questions discussed herein.
3.
What kinds of phones are 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 radio frequency 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 far below the FCC safety
limits.
4.
What are the results of the research done already?
The research done thus far has produced conflicting results, and many studies have suffered from flaw in their research methods.
Animal experiments investigating the effects of radio frequency 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 therefore for up to 22
hours per day. These conditions are not similar to the condition 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,
tumor 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.
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