NTP Factsheets Radiofrequency Radiation emitted by Cellular Phones.htm

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NTP Factsheets: Radiofrequency Radiation emitted by Cellular PhonesSunday,

March 31, 2002 9:10 PM

NTP Factsheets Radiofrequency Radiation emitted by

Cellular Phones.htm

 

 

- http://ntp-server.niehs.nih.gov/htdocs/liason/factsheets/CellPhoneFacts.html

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NTP Studies on Radiofrequency

Radiation Emitted by Cellular Phones

 

Personal (cellular) telecommunications is a rapidly evolving technology that

uses microwave radiation to communicate between a fixed base station and a

mobile user. Until recently, most systems employed analog technology, where low

frequency speech signals are directly modulated onto a high frequency carrier in

a manner similar to a frequency-modulated (FM) radio. The second-generation

systems, widely used in Europe, USA and Japan, employ digital technology where

the low frequency speech is digitally coded prior to modulation. Most systems

employ hand-held cellular telephones, which means that the radiating antenna is

close to the head of the user.

 

Over 100 million Americans currently use wireless communications devices with

over 50 thousand new users daily. This translates into a potentially significant

public health problem should the use of these devices even slightly increase the

risk of adverse health effects. Cellular phones and other wireless communication

devices are required to meet the radiofrequency radiation (RFR) exposure

guidelines of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC, August 1996). The

existing exposure guidelines are based on protection from acute injury from

thermal effects of RFR exposure. Current data are insufficient to draw

definitive conclusions concerning the adequacy of these guidelines to be

protective against any non-thermal effects of chronic exposures.

 

Status of RFR Studies in Laboratory Animals

 

Studies in laboratory animals are considered crucial for understanding whether

exposure to RFR is adverse to human health because meaningful data will not be

available from epidemiological studies (human population studies) for many

years; this is due to the long latency period between exposure to a carcinogenic

agent and the diagnosis of a tumor. Results from animal studies conducted

to-date are not sufficient to estimate potential human cancer risks from

low-level exposures. In one study, transgenic mice exposed to a digital phone

signal developed more than twice as many non-lymphoblastic lymphomas as the

unexposed control group. Data from long-term animal studies using multiple

levels of exposure to RFR are unavailable.

 

Most scientific organizations that have reviewed the literature in animals have

concluded that long-term, multi-dose animal studies are needed. Several

long-term animal studies are either planned or underway including studies by a

consortium of European investigators and cellular phone manufacturers under the

auspices of the European Union (PERFORM-A), and by investigators at the Cancer

Research Center of the European Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and

Environmental Sciences Commission.

 

What is the NTP Doing?

 

The Food and Drug Administration nominated RFR emissions of wireless

communication devices to the National Toxicology Program (NTP) for toxicology

and carcinogenicity testing. The NTP has carefully evaluated the efforts already

underway and concluded that while these efforts have an excellent probability of

producing high quality research results, additional studies may be warranted to

more clearly define any potential health hazard to the U.S. population. Because

of the technical complexity of such studies, NTP staff are working with RFR

experts from the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The NTP is

testing the feasibility of using various RFR exposure systems to conduct

lifetime studies in laboratory animals that would be most relevant for

evaluating human cancer risk.

 

For further information, contact: Dr. Ron Melnick, NIEHS, P.O. Box 12233, MD

B3-08,

Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709; Phone: 919/541-4142, Email:

melnick

 

 

 

Contact the NTP Liaison Office at:

919-541-0530

Fax: 919-541-0295

liaison

 

 

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Created: 13 November 2001

 

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