Samsung SCH-T300 - Manual (Page 166)

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Devices and Radiological Health
Consumer Update on Mobile Phones
FDA has been receiving inquiries about the safety of mobile phones, including cellular
phones and PCS phones. The following summarizes what is known--and what remains
unknown--about whether these products can pose a hazard to health, and what can be
done to minimize any potential risk. This information may be used to respond to
questions.
Why the concern?
Mobile phones emit low levels of radio frequency energy (i.e., radio frequency
radiation) in the microwave range while being used. They also emit very low levels of
radio frequency energy (RF), considered non-significant, when in the stand-by mode. It
is well known that high levels of RF can produce biological damage through heating
effects (this is how your microwave oven is able to cook food). However, it is not known
whether, to what extent, or through what mechanism, lower levels of RF might cause
adverse health effects as well. Although some research has been done to address these
questions, no clear picture of the biological effects of this type of radiation has emerged
to date. Thus, the available science does not allow us to conclude that mobile phones are
absolutely safe, or that they are unsafe. However, the available scientific evidence does
not demonstrate any adverse health effects associated with the use of mobile phones.
What kinds of phones are in question?
Questions have been raised about hand-held mobile phones, the kind that have a built-in
antenna that is positioned close to the user's head during normal telephone
conversation. These types of mobile phones are of concern because of the short distance
between the phone's antenna--the primary source of the RF--and the person's head. The
exposure to RF from mobile phones in which the antenna is located at greater distances
from the user (on the outside of a car, for example) is drastically lower than that from
hand-held phones, because a person's RF exposure decreases rapidly with distance from
the source. The safety of so-called “cordless phones,” which have a base unit connected
to the telephone wiring in a house and which operate at far lower power levels and
frequencies, has not been questioned.
How much evidence is there that hand-held mobile phones might be harmful?
Briefly, there is not enough evidence to know for sure, either way; however, research
efforts are on-going. The existing scientific evidence is conflicting and many of the
studies that have been done to date have suffered from flaws in their research methods.
Animal experiments investigating the effects of RF exposures characteristic of mobile
phones have yielded conflicting results. A few animal studies, however, have suggested
that low levels of RF could accelerate the development of cancer in laboratory animals.
In one study, mice genetically altered to be predisposed to developing one type of cancer