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3. What kinds of phones are the subject of this
update?
The term ‘wireless phone’ refers here to handheld
wireless phones with builtin antennas, often called
‘cell’, ‘mobile’, or ‘PCS’ phones. These types of
wireless phones can expose the user to measurable
radiofrequency 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.
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 radiofrequency 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 predisposed 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
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