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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
radiofrequency energy (RF) exposures characteristic of wire-
less phones have yielded conflicting results that often cannot
be repeated in other laboratories. A few animal studies, how-
ever, have suggested that low levels of RF could accelerate the
development of cancer in laboratory animals. However, many
of the studies that showed increased tumor development used
animals that had been genetically engineered or treated with
cancer-causing chemicals so as to be pre-disposed to develop
ca ncer in the absence of RF exposure. Other studies exposed
the animals to RF for up to 22 hours per day. These conditions
are not similar to the conditions under which people use wire-
less phones, so we don’t know with certainty what the results
of such studies mean for human health.
Three large epidemiology studies have been published since
December 2000. Between them, the studies investigated any
possible association between the use of wireless phones and
primary brain cancer, glioma, meningioma, or acoustic neuro-
ma, tumors of the brain or salivary gland, leukemia, or other
cancers. None of the studies demonstrated the existence of
any harmful health effects from wireless phone RF exposures.
However, none of the studies can answer questions about long-
term exposures, since the average period of phone use in
these studies was around three years.
5. What research is needed to decide whether RF exposure
from wireless phones poses a health risk?
RD2230
