116
Guidelines for Safe and Efficient Use
•
Keep away from children and do not allow the battery to be placed in their
mouth. Battery electrolytes may be toxic if swallowed. Avoid battery
electrolyte contact with your skin and eyes.
•
Do Not use a damaged battery or charger.
•
Turn off your phone before removing the battery.
•
Do Not expose the battery to water or other liquids.
•
Avoid dropping the battery while removing it from the phone.
•
Avoid puncturing or crushing the battery.
•
Only use the battery for its intended purpose.
FDA has been receiving inquiries about the safety of mobile phones,
including cellular phones and PCS phones.
The following summarizes what is known--and what remains unknown--
about whether these products can pose a hazard to health, and what can be
done to minimize any potential risk. This information may be used to
respond to questions.
Why the concern?
Mobile phones emit low levels of radiofrequency energy (i.e., radiofrequency
radiation) in the microwave range while being used. They also emit very low
levels of radiofrequency energy (RF), considered non-significant, when in the
stand-by mode. It is well known that high levels of RF can produce biological
damage through heating effects (this is how your microwave oven is able to
cook food). However, it is not known whether, to what extent, or through what
mechanism, lower levels of RF might cause adverse health effects as well.
Although some research has been done to address these questions, no clear
picture of the biological effects of this type of radiation has emerged to date.
Thus, the available science does not allow us to conclude that mobile phones
are absolutely safe, or that they are unsafe. However, the available scientific
evidence does not demonstrate any adverse health effects associated with the
use of mobile phones.
What kinds of phones are in question?
Questions have been raised about hand-held mobile phones, the kind that have
a built-in antenna that is positioned close to the user’s head during normal
telephone conversation. These types of mobile phones are of concern because
of the short distance between the phone’s antenna--the primary source of the
RF--and the person’s head. The exposure to RF from mobile phones in which
the antenna is located at greater distances from the user (on the outside of a
car, for example) is drastically lower than that from hand-held phones,
FDA Consumer Update
