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The FDA belongs to an interagency working
group of the federal agencies that have
responsibility for different aspects of RF safety
to ensure coordinated efforts at the federal
level. The following agencies belong to this
working group:
• National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Occupational Safety and Health
Administration
• National Telecommunications and
Information Administration
The National Institutes of Health participates
in some interagency working group activities,
as well.
The FDA shares regulatory responsibilities
for wireless phones with the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC). All
phones that are sold in the United States must
comply with FCC safety guidelines that limit
RF exposure. The FCC relies on the FDA and
other health agencies for safety questions
about wireless phones.
The FCC also regulates the base stations that
the wireless phone networks rely upon. While
these base stations operate at higher power
than do the wireless phones themselves, the
RF exposures that people get from these base
stations are typically thousands of times lower
than those they can get from wireless phones.
Base stations are thus not the subject of the
safety questions discussed in this document.
3. What kinds of phones are the subject
of this update?
The term “wireless phone” refers here to
handheld wireless phones with built-in
antennas, often called “cell”, “mobile”, or
“PCS” phones. These types of wireless phones
can expose the user to measurable Radio
Frequency (RF) energy because of the short
distance between the phone and the user’s
head.
These RF exposures are limited by FCC safety
guidelines that were developed with the
advice of the FDA and other federal health and
safety agencies. When the phone is located at
greater distances from the user, the exposure
to RF is drastically lower because a person’s
RF exposure decreases rapidly with increasing
distance from the source. The so-called
“cordless phones,” which have a base unit
connected to the telephone wiring in a house,
typically operate at far lower power levels, and
thus produce RF exposures far below the FCC
safety limits.
For Your Safety
