User's Manual

53
problems are associated with using wireless phones. There is no
proof, however, that wireless phones are absolutely safe.
Wireless phones emit low levels of Radio Frequency (RF) energy
while operating microwave ranges (which also emit very low
levels of RF when they are in standby mode). While high levels
of RF can produce health effects (by heating tissue), exposure to
low-level RF that does not produce heating effects results in no
known adverse health effects. Many studies of low-level RF
exposures have not uncovered any biological effects. Although
some studies have suggested that some biological effects may
occur, such findings have not been confirmed by additional
research. In some cases, other researchers have had difficulty in
reproducing those studies, and/or determining the reasons for
inconsistent results.
3. What are the results of the research done already?
The research conducted 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 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 it is largely unknown what the results of such studies
mean for human health and safety. Three large epidemiology
studies have been published since December 2000. These
studies investigated possible associations between the use of
wireless phones and primary brain cancer (glioma, meningioma,
acoustic neuroma, other brain tumors, and salivary gland tumors),