Health and Safety Information 276
Section 13: Health and Safety Information
This section outlines the safety precautions associated with
using your phone. The terms “mobile device” or “cell phone”
are used in this section to refer to your phone.
Read this
information before using your mobile device
.
Exposure to Radio Frequency (RF)
Signals
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 serious health hazards. The weight of
scientific evidence has not linked cell 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.
