User's Manual

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 radiofrequency 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 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 phones, so
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we don’t 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 phones 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
phone RF exposures. However, none of the studies can answer
questions about long-term exposures, since the average period of
phone use in these studies was around three years.
What research is needed to decide whether RF exposure
from wireless phones poses a health risk?
A combination of laboratory studies and epidemiological studies of
people actually using wireless phones would provide some of the data
that are needed. Lifetime animal exposure studies could be completed
in a few years. However, very large numbers of animals would be
needed to provide reliable proof of a cancer promoting effect if one
exists. Epidemiological studies can provide data that is directly
applicable to human populations, but 10 or more years’ follow-up may
be needed to provide answers about some health effects, such as
cancer. This is because the interval between the time of exposure to a
cancer-causing agent and the time tumors develop - if they do - may
be many, many years. The interpretation of epidemiological studies is
hampered by difficulties in measuring actual RF exposure during day-
to-day use of wireless phones. Many factors affect this measurement,