User's Manual

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Safety
117
What about children using wireless phones?
The scientific evidence does not show a danger to users of wireless phones, including
children and teenagers. If you want to take steps to lower exposure to radio frequency
energy (RF), the measures described above would apply to children and teenagers using
wireless phones. Reducing the time of wireless phone use and increasing the distance
between the user and the RF source will reduce RF exposure.
Some groups sponsored by other national governments have advised that children be
discouraged from using wireless phones at all. For example, the government in the United
Kingdom distributed leaflets containing such a recommendation in December 2000. They
noted that no evidence exists that using a wireless phone causes brain tumors or other ill
effects. Their recommendation to limit wireless phone use by children was strictly
precautionary; it was not based on scientific evidence that any health hazard exists.
What about wireless phone interference with medical equipment?
Radio frequency energy (RF) from wireless phones can interact with some electronic
devices. For this reason, FDA helped develop a detailed test method to measure
electromagnetic interference (EMI) of implanted cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators
from wireless phones. This test method is now part of a standard sponsored by the
Association for the Advancement of Medical instrumentation (AAMI). The final draft, a joint
effort by FDA, medical device manufacturers and many other groups, was completed in
late 2000. This standard will allow manufacturers to ensure that cardiac pacemakers and
defibrillators are safe from wireless phone EMI.
FDA has tested hearing aids for interference from handheld wireless phones, and helped
develop a voluntary standard sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic
Engineers (IEEE). This standard specifies test methods and performance requirements
for hearing aids and wireless phones so that no interference occurs when a person uses
a “compatible” phone and a “compatible” hearing aid at the same time. This standard was
approved by the IEEE in 2000.
FDA continues to monitor the use of wireless phones for possible interactions with other
medical devices. Should harmful interference be found to occur, FDA will conduct testing
to assess the interference and work to resolve the problem.
How can I determine how much RF energy exposure I can get from using my
wireless phone?
The FCC requires that wireless phones sold in the United States demonstrate compliance
with human exposure limits adopted by the FCC in 1996. The relative amount of RF
energy absorbed in the head of a wireless phone user is given by the Specific Absorption
Rate (SAR), as explained in the next section. In terms of SAR, the FCC requires wireless
phones to comply with a safety limit of 1.6 watts per kilogram (1.6 W/kg).