210The energy levels associated with radio frequency energy,including both radio waves and microwaves, are not greatenough to cause ionization of atoms and molecules.Therefore, RF energy is a type of non-ionizing radiation.Other types of non-ionizing radiation include visible light,infrared radiation (heat), and other forms of electromagneticradiation with relatively low frequencies.While RF energy does not ionize particles, large amounts canincrease body temperatures and cause tissue damage. Twoareas of the body, the eyes and the testes, are particularlyvulnerable to RF heating because there is relatively littleblood flow in them to carry away excess heat.Research Results to Date: Is there a connectionbetween RF and certain health problems?The results of most studies conducted to date say no. Inaddition, attempts to replicate and confirm the few studiesthat have shown a connection have failed.The scientific community at large therefore believes that theweight of scientific evidence does not show an associationbetween exposure to Radio Frequency (RF) from cell phonesand adverse health outcomes. Still the scientific communityhas supported additional research to address gaps inknowledge. Some of these studies are described below.Interphone StudyInterphone is a large international study designed todetermine whether cell phones increase the risk of head andneck cancer. A report published in the International Journalof Epidemiology (June, 2010) compared cell phone usage formore than 5,000 people with brain tumors (glioma andmeningioma) and a similar number of healthy controls.Results of this study did NOT show that cell phones causedbrain cancer. In this study, most people had no increased riskof brain cancer from using cell phones. For people with theheaviest use of cell phones (an average of more than ½ hourper day, every day, for over 10 years) the study suggested aslight increase in brain cancer. However, the authorsdetermined that biases and errors prevented any conclusionsbeing drawn from this data. Additional information aboutInterphone can be found athttp://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2010/pdfs/pr200_E.pdf.Interphone is the largest cell phone study to date, but it didnot answer all questions about cell phone safety. Additionalresearch is being conducted around the world, and the FDAcontinues to monitor developments in this field.
