t h e m s e l ve s , the RF ex p o s u res that people get from these
base stations are typically thousands of times lower than
those they can get from wireless phones. Base stat i o n s
a r e thus not the subject of the safety questions discussed
in this document.
3 . W h a t kinds of phones are the subject of this updat e ?
The term “ w i reless phone”re fe rs here to handheld
w i r eless phones with built-in antennas,often called “ c e l l ” ,
“ m o b i l e ” ,or “ P C S ” phones. These types of wire l e s s
phones can expose the user to measurable ra d i o f re q u e n c y
e n e rgy (RF) because of the short distance between the
phone and the user’s head.
These RF ex p o s u r es are limited by FCC safety guidelines
t h a t we re developed with the advice of the FDA and
other fe d e r al health and safety agencies. When the phone
is located at gre ater distances from the user,the ex p o s u r e
to RF is dra s t i c a l l y lower because a person's RF ex p o s u r e
d e c r eases rap i d l y with increasing distance from the
s o u rc e. The so-called “ c o rdless phones,”wh i ch have a
base unit connected to the telephone wiring in a house,
t y p i c a l l y operate at far lower power leve l s , and thus
p r oduce RF ex p o s u r es far below the FCC safety limits.
4 . W h a t are the results of the re s e a r ch done alre a dy ?
The re s e a r ch done thus far has produced confl i c t i n g
r e s u l t s , and many studies have suffe r ed from fl a ws in
their re s e a rch methods. Animal ex p e r iments inve s t i ga t i n g
the effects of ra d i o f re q u e n c y energy (RF) ex p o s u re s
c h a ra c t e r istic of wireless phones have yielded confl i c t i n g
results that often cannot be rep e ated in other lab o r at o ri e s .
A few animal studies,h o weve r, h ave suggested that low
l evels of RF could accelerate the development of cancer
in lab o r a t o ry animals. Howeve r,m a n y of the studies that
s h owed increased tumor development used animals that
had been ge n e t i c a l ly engi n e e r ed or tre a ted with cancer-
causing chemicals so as to be pre-disposed to deve l o p
cancer in the absence of RF ex p o s u r e. Other studies
120 Safety guidelines
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