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Consumer Update on Mobile Phones
FDA has been receiving inquiries about the safety of mobile
phones, including cellular phones and PCS phones. The fol-
lowing 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.
Why the concern?
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 mecha-
nism, 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 avail-
able science does not allow us to conclude that mobile
phones are absolutely safe, or that they are unsafe. How-
ever, the available scientific evidence does not demonstrate
any adverse health effects associated with the use of mobile
phones.
What kinds of phones are in question?
Questions have been raised about hand-held mobile
phones, the kind that have a built-in antenna that is posi-
tioned 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
The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration's Center for
Devices and Radiological Health
-50-
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