User's Manual

E-12
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 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.
I 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.