Samsung SGH-E356 User Manual

42Health and safety informationforced to boost its power to compensate, leading to anincrease in RF absorption. In February 2002, the Federaltrade Commission (FTC) charged two companies that solddevices that claimed to protect wireless phone users fromradiation with making false and unsubstantiated claims.According to FTC, these defendants lacked a reasonablebasis to substantiate their claim.What about wireless phone interference with medicalequipment?Radio frequency energy (RF) from wireless phones caninteract with some electronic devices. For this reason, FDAhelped develop a detailed test method to measureelectromagnetic interference (EMI) of implanted cardiacpacemakers and defibrillators from wireless telephones.This test method is now part of a standard sponsored bythe Association for the Advancement of Medicalinstrumentation (AAMI). The final draft, a joint effort byFDA, medical device manufacturers, and many othergroups, was completed in late 2000. This standard willallow manufacturers to ensure that cardiac pacemakersand defibrillators are safe from wireless phone EMI.FDA has tested hearing aids for interference fromhandheld wireless phones and helped develop a voluntarystandard sponsored by the Institute of Electrical andElectronic Engineers (IEEE). This standard specifies testmethods and performance requirements for hearing aidsand wireless phones so that no interference occurs when aperson uses a compatible phone and a compatible hearingaid at the same time. This standard was approved by theIEEE in 2000.FDA continues to monitor the use of wireless phones forpossible interactions with other medical devices. Shouldharmful interference be found to occur, FDA will conducttesting to assess the interference and work to resolve theproblem.What are the results of the research done already?The research done thus far has produced conflictingresults, and many studies have suffered from flaws in theirresearch methods. Animal experiments investigating theeffects of radio frequency energy (RF) exposurescharacteristic of wireless phones have yielded conflictingresults that often cannot be repeated in other laboratories.A few animal studies, however, have suggested that lowlevels of RF could accelerate the development of cancer inlaboratory animals. However, many of the studies thatshowed increased tumor development used animals that