Safety Guidelines
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 radiofrequency energy (RF)
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 we don't know with
certainty what the results of such studies
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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 salivary gland,
leukemia, or other cancers. None of the
studies demonstrated the existence of
any harmful health effects from wireless
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,