16
Safety Guidelines
3. What kinds of phones are the subject
of this update?
Theterm‘wirelessphone’refershere
tohandheldwirelessphoneswithbuiltin
antennas,oftencalled‘cell’,‘mobile’,or
‘PCS’phones.Thesetypesofwireless
phonescanexposetheusertomeasurable
radiofrequencyenergy(RF)becauseof
theshortdistancebetweenthephoneand
theuser’shead.TheseRFexposuresare
limitedbyFCCsafetyguidelinesthatwere
developedwiththeadviceoftheFDAand
otherfederalhealthandsafetyagencies.
Whenthephoneislocatedatgreater
distancesfromtheuser,theexposuretoRF
isdrasticallylowerbecauseaperson’sRF
exposuredecreasesrapidlywithincreasing
distancefromthesource.Theso-called‘
cordlessphones,’whichhaveabaseunit
connectedtothetelephonewiringina
house,typicallyoperateatfarlowerpower
levels,andthusproduceRFexposuresfar
belowtheFCCsafetylimits.
4. What are the results of the research
done already?
Theresearchdonethusfarhasproduced
conflictingresults,andmanystudies
havesufferedfromflawsintheirresearch
methods.Animalexperimentsinvestigating
theeffectsofradiofrequencyenergy(RF)
exposurescharacteristicofwirelessphones
haveyieldedconflictingresultsthatoften
cannotberepeatedinotherlaboratories.A
fewanimalstudies,however,havesuggested
thatlowlevelsofRFcouldacceleratethe
developmentofcancerinlaboratoryanimals.
However,manyofthestudiesthatshowed
increasedtumordevelopmentusedanimals
thathadbeengeneticallyengineeredor
treatedwithcancercausingchemicalsso
astobepredisposedtodevelopcancer
intheabsenceofRFexposure.Other
studiesexposedtheanimalstoRFforup
to22hoursperday.Theseconditionsare
notsimilartotheconditionsunderwhich
peopleusewirelessphones,sowedon’t
knowwithcertaintywhattheresultsofsuch
studiesmeanforhumanhealth.Threelarge
epidemiologystudieshavebeenpublished
sinceDecember2000.Betweenthem,the
studiesinvestigatedanypossibleassociation
betweentheuseofwirelessphonesand
primarybraincancer,glioma,meningioma,
oracousticneuroma,tumorsofthebrainor
salivarygland,leukemia,orothercancers.
Noneofthestudiesdemonstratedthe
existenceofanyharmfulhealtheffectsfrom
wirelessphoneRFexposures.
However,noneofthestudiescananswer
questionsaboutlongtermexposures,since
theaverageperiodofphoneuseinthese
studieswasaroundthreeyears.
5. What research is needed to decide
whether RF exposure from wireless
phones poses a health risk?
Acombinationoflaboratorystudiesand