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agency has authority to take action if wireless phones
are shown to emit radio frequency energy (RF) at a
level that is hazardous to the user. In such a case,
FDA could require the manufacturers of wireless
phones to notify users of the health hazard and to
repair, replace or recall the phones so that the hazard
no longer exists.
Although the existing scientific data do not justify FDA
regulatory actions, FDA has urged the wireless phone
industry to take a number of steps, including the
following:
•
Support needed research into possible biological effects of
RF of the type emitted by wireless phones;
•
Design wireless phones in a way that minimizes any RF
exposure to the user that is not necessary for device
function; and
•
Cooperate in providing users of wireless phones with the
best possible information on possible effects of wireless
phone use on human health.
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
•
Federal Communications Commission
•
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
•
National Telecommunications and Information
Administration
The National Institutes of Health participates in some
interagency working group activities, as well.
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. FCC relies on FDA and other
health agencies for safety questions about wireless
phones.
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 primary subject of the
safety questions discussed in this document.
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 radio frequency energy
(RF) exposures characteristic of wireless phones have
yielded conflicting results that often cannot be
repeated in other laboratories. A few animal studies,
however, 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-
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