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19
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Cooperate in providing wireless phones with the best possible information on possible
effects of wireless phone 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 (Administración de la seguridad y salud
laborales)
•
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
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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 the wireless phones do
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 builtin
antennas, often called ‘cell’, ‘mobile’, or ‘PCS’ phones. These types of wireless phones
can expose the user to measurable radiofrequency energy (RF) 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
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