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Safety
National Institute for
G
Occupational Safety and
Health
Environmental Protection
G
Agency
Occupational Safety and
G
Health Administration
National Telecommunications
G
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
98
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
(RF) energy because of the short
distance between the phone and
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