What are the results of the research done already – Samsung SPH-A303ZDASKE User Manual

Page 154

Advertising
background image

154

"Cooperate in providing users of wireless phones with the best possible information on possible

effects of wireless phone use on human health.

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

"Federal Communications Commission

"Occupational Safety and Health Administration

"National Telecommunications and Information Administration

The National Institutes of Health participates in some interagency working group activities, as
well.

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. FCC relies on FDA and other health agencies for safety
questions about wireless phones.

FCC also regulates the base stations that the wireless phone networks rely upon. While these
base stations operate at higher power than do the wireless phones 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 primary subject of
the safety questions discussed in this document.

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 energy (RF) 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 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 don't know with certainty what the results of
such studies mean for human health.

Advertising