User's Manual

The National Institutes of Health
participates in some inter-agency
working group activities, as well.
FDA shares regulatory responsibil-
ities for wireless phones with the
Federal Communications Com-
mission (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 wire-
less 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 subject of the safety
questions discussed in this docu-
ment.
3) What kinds of phones are subject of
this update?
The term “wireless phone” refers
here to handheld wireless phones
with built-in antennas, often
called “cell,” “mobile,” or “PCS”