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For Your Safety 196
• 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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