Owners manual

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Safety
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.
5. 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
tenormoreyearsfollow-upmaybeneededtoprovideanswersaboutsome
healtheffects,suchascancer.Thisisbecausetheintervalbetweenthetime
ofexposuretoacancer-causingagentandthetimetumorsdevelop-ifthey
do-maybemany,manyyears.Theinterpretationofepidemiologicalstudies
ishamperedbydifcultiesinmeasuringactualRFexposureduringday-to-
dayuseofwirelessphones.Manyfactorsaffectthismeasurement,suchas
theangleatwhichthephoneisheld,orwhichmodelofphoneisused.
6. What is the FDA doing to find out more about the possible
health effects of wireless phone RF?
TheFDAisworkingwiththeU.S.NationalToxicologyProgramandwith
groupsofinvestigatorsaroundtheworldtoensurethathighpriorityanimal
studiesareconductedtoaddressimportantquestionsabouttheeffectsof
exposuretoRadioFrequency(RF)energy.
TheFDAhasbeenaleadingparticipantintheWorldHealthOrganization
InternationalElectroMagneticFields(EMF)Projectsinceitsinceptionin
1996.Aninuentialresultofthisworkhasbeenthedevelopmentofa
detailedagendaofresearchneedsthathasdriventheestablishmentofnew
researchprogramsaroundtheworld.Theprojecthasalsohelpeddevelopa
seriesofpublicinformationdocumentsonEMFissues.
TheFDAandtheCellularTelecommunications&InternetAssociation
(CTIA)haveaformalCooperativeResearchAndDevelopmentAgreement
(CRADA)todoresearchonwirelessphonesafety.TheFDAprovidesthe