User Guide
112 Health & Safety
Health & Safety
non-ionizing radiation. Other types of non-ionizing radiation include visible light, infrared radiation (heat), and other forms
of electromagnetic radiation with relatively low frequencies. While RF energy does not ionize particles, large amounts can in-
crease body temperatures and cause tissue damage. Two areas of the body, the eyes and the testes, are particularly vulnerable
to RF heating because there is relatively little blood ow in them to carry away excess heat.
Research Results to Date: Is there a connection between RF and certain health problems?
The results of most studies conducted to date say no. In addition, attempts to replicate and conrm the few studies that have
shown a connection have failed. The scientic community at large therefore believes that the weight of scientic evidence does
not show an association between exposure to Radio Frequency (RF) from cell phones and adverse health outcomes. Still the
scientic community has supported additional research to address gaps in knowledge. Some of these studies are described
below.
Interphone Study
Interphone is a large international study designed to determine whether cell phones increase the risk of head and neck cancer.
A report published in the International Journal of Epidemiology (June, 2010) compared cell phone usage for more than 5,000
people with brain tumors (glioma and meningioma) and a similar number of healthy controls.
Results of this study did NOT show that cell phones caused brain cancer. In this study, most people had no increased risk of
brain cancer from using cell phones. For people with the heaviest use of cell phones (an average of more than ½ hour per day,
every day, for over 10 years) the study suggested a slight increase in brain cancer. However, the authors determined that bias-
es and errors prevented any conclusions being drawn from this data. Additional information about Interphone can be found at
http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2010/pdfs/pr200_E.pdf.
Interphone is the largest cell phone study to date, but it did not answer all questions about cell phone safety. Additional
research is being conducted around the world, and the FDA continues to monitor developments in this eld.
International Cohort Study on Mobile Phone Users (COSMOS)
The COSMOS study aims to conduct long-term health monitoring of a large group of people to determine if there are any health
issues linked to long-term exposure to radio frequency energy from cell phone use. The COSMOS study will follow approximate-
ly 300,000 adult cell phone users in Europe for 20 to 30 years. Additional information about the COSMOS study can be found
at http://www.ukcosmos.org/index.html.