Panasonic EB-GD55 Operating Instructions Manual

Also see for EBGD55 - MINI CELLPHONE: Service manual Operating instructions Operating instructions

38Consumer Update on Mobile Phones(Published by U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Center for Devices andRadiological Health, October 20, 1999.)FDA has been receiving inquiries about the safety of mobile phones, includingcellular phones and PCS phones. The following summarizes what is known—and what remains unknown—about whether these products can pose ahazard to health, and what can be done to minimize any potential risk. Thisinformation may be used to respond to questions.Why the concern?Mobile phones emit low levels of radiofrequency energy (i.e., radiofrequencyradiation) in the microwave range while being used. They also emit very lowlevels of radiofrequency energy (RF), considered non-significant, when in thestand-by mode. It is well known that high levels of RF can produce biologicaldamage through heating effects (this is how your microwave oven is able tocook food). However, it is not known whether, to what extent, or through whatmechanism, lower levels of RF might cause adverse health effects as well.Although some research has been done to address these questions, no clearpicture of the biological effects of this type of radiation has emerged to date.Thus, the available science does not allow us to conclude that mobile phonesare absolutely safe, or that they are unsafe. However, the available scientificevidence does not demonstrate any adverse health effects associated withthe use of mobile phones.What kind of phones are in question?Questions have been raised about hand-held mobile phones, the kind thathave a built-in antenna that is positioned close to the user’s head duringnormal telephone conversation. These types of mobile phones are of concernbecause of the short distance between the phone’s antenna — the primarysource of the RF — and the person’s head. The exposure to RF from mobilephones in which the antenna is located at greater distances from the user (onthe outside of a car, for example) is drastically lower than that from hand-heldphones, because a person’s RF exposure decreases rapidly with distancefrom the source. The safety of so-called “cordless phones", which have abase unit connected to the telephone wiring in a house and which operate atfar lower power levels and frequencies, has not been questioned.How much evidence is there that hand-held mobile phones mightbe harmful?Briefly, there is not enough evidence to know for sure, either way; however,research efforts are on-going. The existing scientific evidence is conflictingand many of the studies that have been done to date have suffered from flawsin their research methods. Animal experiments investigating the effects of RFexposures characteristic of mobile phones have yielded conflicting results. Afew animal studies, however, have suggested that low levels of RF couldaccelerate the development of cancer in laboratory animals. In one study,mice genetically altered to be predisposed to developing one type of cancerdeveloped more than twice as many such cancers when they were exposedto RF energy compared to controls. There is much uncertainty amongscientists about whether results obtained from animal studies apply to the useof mobile phones. First, it is uncertain how to apply the results obtained in ratsand mice to humans. Second, many of the studies that showed increasedtumor development used animals that had already been treated with cancer-