Owner's Manual

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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
document.
3. What kinds of phones are the subject of
this update?
The term “wireless phone” refers here to
handheld wireless phones with built-in
antennas, often called “cell”, “mobile”, or
“PCS” phones. These types of wireless
phones can expose the user to measurable
Radio Frequency (RF) energy because of
the short distance between the phone 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
phone 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. The so-called “cordless
phones,” which have a base unit
connected to the telephone wiring in a
house, typically operate at far lower power
levels, and thus produce RF exposures far
below the FCC safety limits.
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
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 the
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