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For Your Safety 141
• Cooperate in providing users of wireless devices with the best possible
information on possible effects of wireless device use on human health.
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 devices with the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC). All devices 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 devices.
The FCC also regulates the base stations that the wireless device networks
rely upon. While these base stations operate at higher power than do the
wireless devices themselves, the RF exposures that people get from these
base stations are typically thousands of times lower than those they can get
from wireless devices. Base stations are thus not the subject of the safety
questions discussed in this document.
3. What kinds of devices are the subject of this update?
The term “wireless device” refers here to handheld wireless devices with
built-in antennas, often called “cell,” “mobile,” or “PCS” devices. These types
of wireless devices can expose the user to measurable Radio Frequency (RF)
energy because of the short distance between the device 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 device 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 devices,”
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.
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