UG.C350.GSM.book Page 91 Tuesday, April 15, 2003 2:21 PM
100,000 people each year. At that rate, assuming 80 million users of
mobile phones (a number increasing at a rate of about 1 million per
month), about 4800 cases of brain cancer would be expected each year
among those 80 million people, whether or not they used their phones.
Thus it is not possible to tell whether any individual's cancer arose
because of the phone, or whether it would have happened anyway. A key
question is whether the risk of getting a particular form of cancer is
greater among people who use mobile phones than among the rest of the
population. One way to answer that question is to compare the usage of
mobile phones among people with brain cancer with the use of mobile
phones among appropriately matched people without brain cancer. This
is called a case-control study. The current case-control study of brain
cancers by the National Cancer Institute, as well as the follow-up research
to be sponsored by industry, will begin to generate this type of
information.
What is FDA's role concerning the safety of
mobile phones?
Under the law, FDA does not review the safety of radiation-emitting
consumer products such as mobile phones before marketing, as it does
with new drugs or medical devices. However, the agency has authority to
take action if mobile phones are shown to emit radiation at a level that is
hazardous to the user. In such a case, FDA could require the
manufacturers of mobile phones to notify users of the health hazard and
to repair, replace or recall the phones so that the hazard no longer exists.
Although the existing scientific data do not justify FDA regulatory actions
at this time, FDA has urged the mobile phone industry to take a number of
steps to assure public safety. The agency has recommended that the
industry:
support needed research into possible biological effects of RF of the
type emitted by mobile phones
design mobile phones in a way that minimizes any RF exposure to
the user that is not necessary for device function
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