Safety
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agencies. When the device 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 devices,” 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 flaws in their research methods. Animal
experiments investigating the effects of Radio Frequency (RF) energy
exposures characteristic of wireless devices 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 devices, so we do not 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 devices
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 device RF exposures. However, none of the studies can answer
questions about long-term exposures, since the average period of device
use in these studies was around three years.
5. What research is needed to decide whether RF exposure from wireless
devices poses a health risk?
A combination of laboratory studies and epidemiological studies of people
actually using wireless devices would provide some of the data that are
needed. Lifetime animal exposure studies could be completed in a few
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