Samsung SCHU740 User Manual

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139FCC also regulates the base stations that the wireless phone networks rely upon.While these base stations operate at higher power than do the wireless phonesthemselves, the RF exposures that people get from these base stations are typicallythousands of times lower than those they can get from wireless phones. Basestations are thus not the primary subject of the safety questions discussed in thisdocument.What are the results of the research done already?The research done thus far has produced conflicting results, and many studies havesuffered from flaws in their research methods. Animal experiments investigating theeffects of radio frequency energy (RF) exposures characteristic of wireless phoneshave yielded conflicting results that often cannot be repeated in other laboratories. Afew animal studies, however, have suggested that low levels of RF could acceleratethe development of cancer in laboratory animals. However, many of the studies thatshowed increased tumor development used animals that had been geneticallyengineered or treated with cancer-causing chemicals so as to be pre-disposed todevelop cancer in absence of RF exposure. Other studies exposed the animals to RFfor up to 22 hours per day. These conditions are not similar to the conditions underwhich people use wireless phones, so we don't know with certainty what the resultsof such studies mean for human health.Three large epidemiology studies have been published since December 2000.Between them, the studies investigated any possible association between the use ofwireless phones and primary brain cancer, glioma, meningioma, or acousticneuroma, tumors of the brain or salivary gland, leukemia, or other cancers. None ofthe studies demonstrated the existence of any harmful health effects from wirelessphones RF exposures. However, none of the studies can answer questions aboutlong-term exposures, since the average period of phone use in these studies wasaround three years.What research is needed to decide whether RF exposurefrom wireless phones poses a health risk?A combination of laboratory studies and epidemiological studies of people actuallyusing wireless phones would provide some of the data that are needed. Lifetimeanimal exposure studies could be completed in a few years. However, very largenumbers of animals would be needed to provide reliable proof of a cancer promotingeffect if one exists. Epidemiological studies can provide data that is directlyapplicable to human populations, but ten or more years' follow-up may be needed toprovide answers about some health effects, such as cancer. This is because theinterval between the time of exposure to a cancer-causing agent and the timetumors develop - if they do - may be many, many years. The interpretation of