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safety.
The FDA belongs to an interagency working group of the federal agencies that have
responsibility for different aspects of RF safety to ensure coordinated efforts at the
federal level. The following agencies belong to this working group:
1. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
2. Environmental Protection Agency
3. Occupational Safety and Health Administration
4. National Telecommunications and Information Administration
The National Institutes of Health participates in some interagency working group
activities as well. The FDA shares regulatory responsibilities for wireless phones with
the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). All phones that are sold in the
United States must comply with FCC safety guidelines that act to limit RF exposure.
The FCC relies on the FDA and other health agencies for safety questions about
wireless phones.
The FCC also regulates the base stations that the wireless phone networks rely upon.
While these base stations operate at higher power than do the wireless phones
themselves, the RF exposures that people get from these base stations are typically
thousands of times lower than those they can get from wireless phones. Base
stations are thus not the subject of the safety questions discussed in this document.
2. Do wireless phones pose a health hazard?
Current scientific evidence does not show that any health problems are associated
with using wireless phones. There is no proof, however, that wireless phones are
absolutely safe. Wireless phones emit low levels of Radio Frequency (RF) energy
while operating microwave ranges (which also emit very low levels of RF when they
are in standby mode). While high levels of RF can produce health effects (by
