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The FCC also regulates the base stations that the tablet
networks rely upon. While these base stations operate at
higher power than do the tablets themselves, the RF
exposures that people get from these base stations are
typically thousands of times lower than those they can get
from tablets. 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.
4. 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 (RF) energy exposures characteristic of
wireless devices 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 the 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 devices, so we do
not know with certainty what the results of such studies
mean for human health. Three large epidemiology studies have
been published since December 2000. Between them, the
studies investigated any possible association between the use
of wireless devices and primary brain cancer, glioma,
meningioma, or acoustic neuroma, tumors of the brain or
salivary gland, leukemia, or other cancers. None of the studies
demonstrated the existence of any harmful health effects
from wireless device RF exposures. However, none of the