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:
•
National Institute for Occupational
Safety and Health
•
Environmental Protection Agency
•
Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (Administración de la
seguridad y salud laborales)
•
Occupational Safety and Health
Administration
•
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 limit RF exposure. The FCC relies
on the FDA and other health agencies
for safety questions about wireless
phones.
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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.
3. What kinds of phones are the
subject of this update?
The term 'wireless phone' refers here
to handheld wireless phones with
built-in antennas, often called 'cell' ,
'mobile' , or 'PCS' phones. These types
of wireless phones can expose the
user to measurable radiofrequency
energy (RF) because of the short
distance between the phone and the
user's head. These RF exposures are
limited by FCC safety guidelines that
were developed with the advice of
the FDA and other federal health and
safety agencies. When the phone is
located at greater distances from the
user, the exposure to RF is drastically
lower because a person's RF exposure
decreases rapidly with increasing