Safety
exposure decreases rapidly with
increasing distance from the
source. The so-called "cordless
phones," which have a base unit
connected to the telephone
wiring in a house, typically
operate at far lower power levels,
and thus produce RF exposures
far below the FCC safety limits.
4. What are the results of the
research done already?
The research done 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
90
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 we do not know with
certainty what the results of such
studies mean for human health.
Three large epidemiology studies
have been published since
December 2000. Between them,
the studies investigated any
possible association between the
use of wireless phones and
primary brain cancer, glioma,
meningioma, or acoustic
neuroma, tumors of the brain or