Healthcare Technology Featured Article

April 02, 2013

FCC Opens Inquiry on Safety of Cell Phones to Human Health


Does the radiofrequency (RF) from cell phones present a threat to human health? While most experts say no, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) plans to engage in an evaluation of the topic. The agency will do so in conjunction with a new cell phone safety standards inquiry to determine if those standards, last updated in 1996 when far fewer people used cell phones, needs revision.

The inquiry was released in late March, and now begins a comment period that will last for 90 days. The agency is encouraging comment from both the public, healthcare researchers and the wireless industry. The comments will focus on the testing procedures the FCC plans to engage in. The FCC notes that this review is standard procedure.

Safety standards issued in 1996 were based on animal testing carried out in the 1980s. They focused on maximum radiation levels safe for human exposure. Though most studies found no concerns of RF at low levels, other studies have not been as conclusive. In 2011, the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer reviewed several studies and listed mobile phones as a possible carcinogen, putting them in the same category as lead, gasoline engine exhaust, and chloroform, according to CNet.

The wireless industry, for its part, insists that cell phones usage is safe for humans. But in a statement last week, John Walls, VP of public affairs for wireless industry association CTIA, said that the industry group "welcomes the FCC's focus on cell phones and health effects."

"As the GAO stated in its July 2012 report, 'Scientific research to date has not demonstrated adverse human health effects of exposure to radio-frequency energy from mobile phone use, but research is ongoing that may increase understanding of any possible effects,'" said Walls. "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health have reached similar conclusions about the state of the science.”

Cell phones do emit low levels of radiofrequency energy (RF). According to the FDA, scientists have conducted hundreds of studies examining the biological effects of the RF energy emitted by cell phones. While some researchers have reported biological changes associated with RF energy, these studies have failed to be replicated, says the FDA. The majority of studies published have failed to show an association between exposure to radiofrequency from a cell phone and health problems.




Edited by Brooke Neuman
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