Health and Safety
Health and Safety
Health and Safety 145
144 Health and Safety
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published information for
consumers relating to Radio Frequency (RF) exposure from wireless phones. The
FDA publication includes the following information:
Do cell phones pose a health hazard?
Many people are concerned that cell phone radiation will cause cancer or other
phones with any health problems.
Cell phones emit low levels of Radio Frequency (RF) energy. Over the past 15
years, scientists have conducted hundreds of studies looking at the biological
effects of the radio frequency energy emitted by cell phones. While some
researchers have reported biological changes associated with RF energy, these
studies have failed to be replicated. The majority of studies published have
failed to show an association between exposure to radio frequency from a cell
phone and health problems.
The low levels of RF cell phones emit while in use are in the microwave frequency
range. They also emit RF at substantially reduced time intervals when in the
stand-by mode. Whereas high levels of RF can produce health effects (by heating
tissue), exposure to low level RF that does not produce heating effects causes no
known adverse health effects.
The biological effects of radio frequency energy should not be confused with the
effects from other types of electromagnetic energy.
Very high levels of electromagnetic energy, such as is found in X rays and gamma
rays, can ionize biological tissues. Ionization is a process where electrons
are stripped away from their normal locations in atoms and molecules. It can
permanently damage biological tissues including DNA, the genetic material.
The energy levels associated with radio frequency energy, including both radio
waves and microwaves, are not great enough to cause ionization of atoms and
molecules. Therefore, RF energy is a type of non-ionizing radiation. Other types
of non ionizing radiation include visible light, infrared radiation (heat), and other
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