exposed the animals to RF for up to 22 hours per day.
These conditions are not similar to the conditions under
wh i c h people use wireless phones,so we don’t know
with certainty wh at the results of such studies mean fo r
human health.
Th r ee large ep i d e m i o l o gy studies have been publ i s h e d
since December 2000. Between them,the studies
i nv e s t i g ated any possible association between the use of
w i reless phones and pri m a r y brain cancer,g l i o m a ,
m e n i n gi o m a ,or acoustic neuro m a ,t u m o rs of the brain or
s a l iv a ry gland,l e u ke m i a , or other cancers. None of the
studies demonstrated the existence of any harmful health
e f fects from wireless phone RF ex p o s u r es. Howeve r,
none of the studies can answer questions about long-term
ex p o s u re s , since the ave rage period of phone use in these
studies was around three ye a rs .
5 . Wh at re s e a r ch is needed to decide whether RF
ex p o s u re from wireless phones poses a health ri s k ?
A combination of lab o r at o r y studies and ep i d e m i o l o g i c a l
studies of people actually using wireless phones wo u l d
p rovide some of the data that are needed. Lifetime animal
ex p o s u r e studies could be completed in a few ye a rs .
H oweve r,ve r y large nu m b e r s of animals would be
needed to provide re l i able proof of a cancer pro m o t i n g
e ffect if one exists. Epidemiological studies can prov i d e
d a ta that is dire c t ly ap p l i c able to human populat i o n s , bu t
10 or more ye a r s fo l l o w-up may be needed to prov i d e
a n sw e r s about some health effe c t s ,s u ch as cancer. This is
because the interval between the time of ex p o s u re to a
c a n c e r -causing agent and the time tumors develop — if
t h ey do — may be many,m a n y ye a rs. The interp re t at i o n
of ep i d e m i o l o gical studies is hampered by difficulties in
m e a s u r ing actual RF ex p o s u r e during day - t o - d ay use of
w i reless phones. Many fa c t o r s affect this measure m e n t ,
s u c h as the angle at wh i c h the phone is held,or wh i c h
model of phone is used.
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