Instruction Manual

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For Your Safety
long-termexposures,sincetheaverageperiodofdeviceuseinthesestudieswasaround
threeyears.
5.WhatresearchisneededtodecidewhetherRFexposurefromtabletsposesa
healthrisk?
Acombinationoflaboratorystudiesandepidemiologicalstudiesofpeopleactuallyusing
tabletswouldprovidesomeofthedatathatareneeded.Lifetimeanimalexposurestudies
couldbecompletedinafewyears.However,verylargenumbersofanimalswouldbe
neededtoprovidereliableproofofacancerpromotingeffectifoneexists.Epidemiological
studiescanprovidedatathatisdirectlyapplicabletohumanpopulations,buttenormore
yearsfollow-upmaybeneededtoprovideanswersaboutsomehealtheffects,suchas
cancer.Thisisbecausetheintervalbetweenthetimeofexposuretoacancer-causingagent
andthetimetumorsdevelop—iftheydo—maybemany,manyyears.Theinterpretation
ofepidemiologicalstudiesishamperedbydifficultiesinmeasuringactualRFexposure
duringday-to-dayuseoftablets.Manyfactorsaffectthismeasurement,suchastheangleat
whichthetabletisheld,orwhichmodeloftabletisused.
6.WhatistheFDAdoingtofindoutmoreaboutthepossiblehealtheffectsoftablet
RF?
TheFDAisworkingwiththeU.S.NationalToxicologyProgramandwithgroupsof
investigatorsaroundtheworldtoensurethathighpriorityanimalstudiesareconductedto
addressimportantquestionsabouttheeffectsofexposuretoRadioFrequency(RF)energy.
TheFDAhasbeenaleadingparticipantintheWorldHealthOrganizationInternational
ElectroMagneticFields(EMF)Projectsinceitsinceptionin1996.Aninfluentialresultof
thisworkhasbeenthedevelopmentofadetailedagendaofresearchneedsthathasdriven
theestablishmentofnewresearchprogramsaroundtheworld.Theprojecthasalsohelped
developaseriesofpublicinformationdocumentsonEMFissues.