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 primary subject of the safety questions
discussed in this document.
k
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 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
206
Summary of Contents for Boulder
Page 242: ...NOTES ...
