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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 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:
• support needed research into possible biological effects of RF
of the type emitted by mobile phones
• design mobile phones in a way that minimizes any RF
exposure to the user that is not necessary for device function
• cooperate in providing mobile phone users with the best
possible information on what is known about possible effects
of mobile phone use on human health
At the same time, FDA belongs to an interagency working group
of the federal agencies that have responsibility for different
aspects of mobile phone safety to ensure a coordinated effort at
the federal level. These agencies are:
• National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Federal Communications Commission
• Occupational Health and Safety Administration
• National Telecommunications and Information Administration
The National Institutes of Health also participates in this group.
In the absence of conclusive information
about any possible risk, what can concerned
individuals do?
If there is a risk from these products—and at this point we do not
know that there is—it is probably very small. But if people are
concerned about avoiding even potential risks, there are simple
steps they can take to do so. For example, time is a key factor in
how much exposure a person receives. Those persons who spend
long periods of time on their hand-held mobile phones could
consider holding lengthy conversations on conventional phones
and reserving the hand-held models for shorter conversations or
for situations when other types of phones are not available.
People who must conduct extended conversations in their cars
every day could switch to a type of mobile phone that places
more distance between their bodies and the source of the RF,
since the exposure level drops off dramatically with distance. For
example, they could switch to:
• a mobile phone in which the antenna is located outside the
vehicle
• a hand-held phone with a built-in antenna connected to a
different antenna mounted on the outside of the car or built
into a separate package
• a headset with a remote antenna to a mobile phone carried
at the waist
Again, the scientific data do not demonstrate that mobile
phones are harmful. But if people are concerned about the radio
frequency energy from these products, taking the simple
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