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If you want more information about research on wireless phones and health, we have a separate website dedicated to the subject: Cell Phone Health Facts. http://cellphonehealthfacts.com/
Quick Health Info
- The World Health Organization says “[m]any studies have been done over the last 2 decades to determine whether wireless phones pose a potential health risk."
- The FCC, the FDA, the National Cancer Institute, and the World Health Organization have each evaluated the scientific research on wireless phones and each has found that the weight of the scientific research has not shown that wireless phone use causes any adverse health effects.
- The FCC says: “All wireless phones sold in the United States meet government requirements that limit their RF (radio frequency) energy to safe levels.”
- The National Cancer Institute reports that its most recent analysis of its data shows “…no increase between 1987 and 2005 in the age-adjusted incidence of brain or other nervous system cancers despite the dramatic increase in the use of cellular telephones.”
More Information from the Experts:
For more on the government guidelines for exposure levels & how they might pertain to wireless use, please visit these websites:
Wireless Phones and Health
Wireless Phone Technology
Wireless phones are small two-way radios. They work by using radio frequency waves to transmit and receive the sounds of our voices. (Broadcast radios operate on a different radio frequency.) Radio frequency (RF) energy is another name for radio waves. The area where these waves are found is called a field. Wireless phones therefore have low level radio frequency fields around them.
From time to time we hear references to “radiation” from wireless phones, which can be confused with radiation from sources such as medical X-rays. While the radio waves used by wireless phones - as well as those used for broadcast radio - use signals that are radiated out from the source of the signal to the receiver, radio waves are different from the “radiation” of medical X-rays.
Medical X-rays in large enough doses can ionize (i.e., affect electrons around atoms and molecules) and thereby damage biological material. Therefore they are known as “ionizing” radiation. As the FDA points out on its website, radio frequency waves do not have enough energy to ionize biological material and therefore are categorized as “non-ionizing.” As the FDA notes, other types of non-ionizing radiation include “visible light” and “infrared radiation (heat).”
Wireless phones include both “cell” phones and the “cordless” phones used in homes and offices.
In the following material we point out what we believe is some of the key information available about wireless phones and health. The websites we refer to and provide links to have additional information to consider. We encourage you to examine the websites of government agencies and public health organizations and make up your own mind about this subject.
The Federal Communication Commission’s Assessment of the Health Research on Wireless Phones
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has regulatory authority over all wireless phones sold in the U.S.
The FCC provides its assessment of the health research on wireless phones on its website:
“currently no scientific evidence establishes a causal link between wireless device use and cancer or other illnesses.”
The U.S. Wireless Phone Safety Standards
The FCC has set safety standards to make sure that radio frequency fields from wireless phones remain at what it has determined are safe levels. As the FCC says on its website:
“All wireless phones sold in the United States meet government requirements that limit their RF energy to safe levels.”
The FCC has pointed out that its safety standards represent the “best scientific thought and are sufficient to protect the public health.” The FCC’s safety standards include a 50-fold safety factor.
The Food and Drug Administration’s Assessment of the Health Research
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also has authority to regulate wireless phones and worked with the FCC to develop its safety standards. The FDA provides it assessment of the scientific research on its website:
“the weight of scientific evidence has not linked cell phones with any health problems.”
Health Research Studies on Wireless Phones
As the World Health Organization has recently pointed out on its website, "Many studies have been done over the last 2 decades to determine whether wireless phones pose a potential health risk."
From time to time, some researchers report that a study shows a possible connection between radio frequency fields and a health problem. These reports are sometimes the subject of dramatic stories in the broadcast media and sensational material on some websites. Of course, responsible expert authorities do not base their conclusions on just the latest study – they evaluate all of the relevant studies.
WHO provides its assessment of the health studies on its website:
“To date, no adverse health effects have been established as being caused by mobile phone use.”
CTIA and Industry Funding and Support of Health Research
CTIA and the wireless telecommunications industry have funded and supported independent research on radio frequency fields and health.
For example, in 2000 CTIA entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the FDA. CTIA funded research through the CRADA, but the research was controlled by the FDA - not by CTIA or the industry.
The research focused on studies of exposure to radio frequency fields when using wireless phones and on studies of whether radio frequency fields could damage genetic material. As the FDA reports on its website, no association was found between radio frequency fields from wireless phones and adverse health effects.
The FDA and CTIA also used the CRADA funding to contract with the U.S. National Academy of Sciences to identify additional research needs.
Claims about Radio Frequency Fields and Brain Cancer
Because wireless phones are often used next to the head, much research has focused on whether wireless phones cause brain cancer.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has put radio frequency fields from wireless phones in the same category as coffee, categorizing them as “possibly carcinogenic” based on what it classified as “limited evidence.” Immediately following IARC’s categorization, however, its parent the World Health Organization issued a Fact Sheet stating:
“To date, no adverse health effects have been established as being caused by mobile phone use.”
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) says on its website:
“…to date there is no evidence from studies of cells, animals, or humans that radiofrequency energy can cause cancer.”
NCI also notes that “more research is needed because cell phone technology and how people use cell phones have been changing rapidly.”
Dramatic Increase in Use of Wireless Phones - No Increase in Brain Cancer Rates
In addition, NCI reports on its website that its most recent analysis shows:
“ ... no increase between 1987 and 2005 in the age-adjusted incidence of brain or other nervous system cancers despite the dramatic increase in the use of cellular telephones.”
Wireless Base Station Tower Safety Limits
The FCC requires that all wireless phone base station towers, as well as all TV and radio towers, also meet strict safety standards. The FCC points out on its website that measurements made near typical wireless phone towers have shown that ground-level power densities are thousands of times less than the FCC's limits for safe exposure. For more information click here.
Links to some sources of additional information referred to above:
