Index 200
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?
” 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
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
exposure decreases rapidly with increasing distance from the source. The so-
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 Radio
Frequency (RF) energy exposures characteristic of wireless phones have yielded conflicting
results that often cannot be repeated in other laboratories. A few animal studies, however, have
To Next Page
Loading...
