z “ Support needed research into possible biological effects of RF of
the type em it ted by wireless phones;
z “ Design wireless phones in a way that m inim izes any RF exposure
to t he user t hat is not necessary for device funct ion; and
z “ Cooperate in providing users of wireless phones with t he best
possible inform at ion on possible effect s of wireless phone use on
hum an healt h.
FDA belongs t o an int eragency working group of the federal agencies t hat
have responsibilit y for different aspect s of RF safet y to ensure coordinat ed
effort s at the federal level. The following agencies belong t o this working
gr oup:
z “ National I nst it ut e for Occupational Safety and Health
z “ Environm ent al Protection Agency
z “ Federal Com m unicat ions Com m ission
z “ Occupat ional Safet y and Healt h Adm inistrat ion
z “ National Telecom m unicat ions and I nform at ion Adm inist rat ion
The Nat ional I nst it utes of Healt h part icipat es in som e int er agency working
gr oup activit ies, as well.
FDA shares regulatory responsibilit ies for wireless phones with t he Federal
Com m unications Com m ission ( FCC). All phones that are sold in t he Unit ed
St ates m ust com ply with FCC safet y guidelines t hat lim it RF exposure.
FCC relies on FDA and other health agencies for safety quest ions about
wireless phones.
FCC also regulat es t he base stat ions t hat the wireless phone networks
rely upon. While t hese base st ations operate at higher pow er t han do t he
wireless phones t hem selves, the RF exposures that people get from t hese
base st at ions are t ypically thousands of t im es lower than those t hey can
get from wireless phones. Base st ations are t hus not the prim ary subject
of t he safet y questions discussed in this docum ent .
W hat ar e t he re sult s of t he resea rch done already?
The research done t hus far has produced conflict ing result s, and m any
studies have suffered from flaws in t heir research m et hods. Anim al
experim ents investigating t he effect s of radio frequency energy (RF)
exposures charact erist ic of wireless phones have yielded conflict ing
result s t hat often cannot be repeat ed in other laboratories. A few anim al
studies, however, have suggested that low levels of RF could accelerat e
the developm ent of cancer in laboratory anim als. However, m any of t he
studies t hat showed increased t um or developm ent used anim als t hat had
been genetically engineered or treated wit h cancer-causing chem icals so
as to be pre-disposed t o develop cancer in absence of RF exposure. Ot her
studies exposed the anim als t o RF for up to 22 hours per day. These
condit ions are not sim ilar to t he condit ions under which people use
wireless phones, so we don't know with cert aint y what t he results of such
studies m ean for hum an healt h.
Three large epidem iology st udies have been published since Decem ber
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