LG LG5550 User Manual page 49

Safety
Safety
The 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
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
The National Institutes of Health participates in some interagency
working group activities, as well.
The 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. The FCC relies on the FDA and other health
agencies for safety questions about wireless phones.
The 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 in
this document.
3. What kinds of phones are the subject of this update?
The term "wireless phone" refers here to handheld 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 FCC safety guidelines that were
developed with the advice of the 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.
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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 flaws 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 RF for up to 22 hours per day. These conditions are not
similar to the conditions 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, tumors 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.
5. What research is needed to decide whether RF exposure
from wireless phones poses a health risk?
A combination of laboratory studies and epidemiological studies of
people actually using wireless phones would provide some of the
data that are needed. Lifetime animal exposure studies could be
completed in a few years. However, very large numbers of animals
would be needed to provide reliable proof of a cancer promoting
effect if one exists. Epidemiological studies can provide data that is
directly applicable to human populations, but 10 or more years
follow-up may be needed to provide answers about some health
effects, such as cancer. This is because the interval between the time
of exposure to a cancer-causing agent and the time tumors develop
— if they do — may be many, many years. The interpretation of
epidemiological studies is hampered by difficulties in measuring
actual RF exposure during day-to-day use of wireless phones.
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