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Appendix 126
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.
4. 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 (RF) energy
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-causing
chemicals so as to be pre-disposed to develop cancer in the absence of
RF exposure. Other studies exposed the animals to RF for up to 22 hours
per day. These conditions are not similar to the conditions under which
people use wireless phones, so we do not know with certainty what the
results of such studies mean for human health. Three large epidemiology
studies have been published since December 2000. Between them, the
studies investigated any possible association between the use of wireless
phones and primary brain cancer, glioma, meningioma, or acoustic
neuroma, tumors of the brain or salivary gland, leukemia, or other
cancers. None of the studies demonstrated the existence of any harmful
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