Siemens Mobile - Manual (Page 73)

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U.S. FDA
The U.S. Food and Drug Admin-
istration's (FDA) Center for
Devices and Radiological Health
Consumer Update on Mobile
Phones
FDA has been receiving inquiries
about the safety of mobile phones,
including cellular phones and PCS
phones. The following summarizes
what is know – and what remains
unknown – about whether these
products can pose a hazard to
health, and what can be done to
minimize any potential risk. This
information may be used to respond
to questions.
Why the concern?
Mobile phones emit low levels of
radio frequency energy (i.e., radio
frequency radiation) in the micro-
wave range while being used. They
also emit very low levels of radio fre-
quency energy (RF), considered non-
significant, when in the stand-by
mode. It is well known that high lev-
els of RF can produce biological dam-
age through heating effects (this is
how your microwave oven is able to
cook food). However, it is not known
whether, to what extent, or through
what mechanism, lower levels of RF
might cause adverse health effects
as well. Although some research has
been done to address these ques-
tions, no clear picture of the biologi-
cal effects of this type of radiation
has emerged to date. Thus, the avail-
able science does not allow us to
conclude that mobile phones are
absolutely safe, or that they are
unsafe. However, the available sci-
entific evidence does not demon-
strate adverse health effects associ-
ated with the use of mobile phones.
What kinds of phones are in question?
Questions have been raised about
hand-held mobile phones, the kind
that have a built-in antenna that is
positioned close to the user's head
during normal telephone conversa-
tion. These types of mobile phones
are of concern because of the short
distance between the phone's
antenna – the primary source of the
RF – and the person's head. The
exposure to RF from mobile phones
in which the antenna is located at
greater distances from the user (on
the outside of a car, for example) is
drastically lower than that from
hand-held phones, because a per-
son's RF exposure decreases rapidly
with distance from the source. The
safety of so-called "cordless phones",
which have a base unit connected to
the telephone wiring in a house and
which operate at far lower power
levels and frequencies, has not been
questioned.