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Why the concern?
What kinds of phones are in question?
The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration's Center for Devices
and Radiological Health Consumer
Update on Mobile Phones
FDA has been receiving inquiries about the safety of mobile phones,
including cellular phones and PCS phones. The following summarizes
what is known--and what remains unknown--about whether these
products can pose a hazard to health, and what can be done to
minimize any potential risk. This information may be used to respond
to questions.
Mobile phones emit low levels of radiofrequency energy (i.e.,
radiofrequency radiation) in the microwave range while being used.
They also emit very low levels of radiofrequency energy (RF),
considered non-significant, when in the stand-by mode. It is well
known that high levels of RF can produce biological damage through
heating effects (this is how your microwave oven is able to cook food).
However, it is not known whether, to what extent, or through what
mechanism, lower levels of RF might cause adverse health effects as
well. Although some research has been done to address these
questions, no clear picture of the biological effects of this type of
radiation has emerged to date. Thus, the available science does not
allow us to conclude that mobile phones are absolutely safe, or that
they are unsafe. However, the available scientific evidence does not
demonstrate any adverse health effects associated with the use of
mobile phones.
Questions have been raised about hand-held mobile phones, the kind
that have a built-in antenna that is positioned close to the user's head
during normal telephone conversation. These types of mobile phones
are of concern because of the short distance between the phone's
antenna--the primary source of the RF--and the person's head. The
exposure to RF from mobile phones in which the antenna is located
at greater distances from the user (on the outside of a car, for example)
is drastically lower than that from hand-held phones, because a
person's RF exposure decreases rapidly with distance from the
source. The safety of so-called "cordless phones," which have a base
unit connected to the telephone wiring in a house and which operate
at far lower power levels and frequencies, has not been questioned.
Additional Health and Safety Information
173
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