LG 6070 - Manuel (Page 54)

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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
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.
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 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
radiofrequency energy (RF) exposures
characteristic of wireless phones have yielded S
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