FDA, Phone industry to study cell phones for health risks.
By Lauran Neargaard Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Hoping to settle whether cellular phones really do pose health risks, the Food and Drug Administration negotiated an unusual partnership with the phone industry Thursday to per form about $1 million worth of scientific studies.
Despite public concern that cell phones might cause cancer or other problems, there is no evidence that radiation from the hugely popular phones poses a significant health risk, FDA scientists stressed.
Nor is there proof that cell phones are risk-free, the FDA cautioned.
A few studies suggest the radio waves emitted by cell phone antennae might cause certain biological effects. With 80 million Americans using cell phones and more buying them every day, uncovering even a small risk could be important to public health.
So the FDA, which oversees the safety of radiation emitting consumer products, hopes its new research collaboration, with the cellular communications industry Association will sort out the confusion.
"The vast majority of scientific evidence shows that there is no public health concern from people using wireless phones," CTIA spokesman Jeff Nelson said.
But "there are some conflicting pieces of information" that require more research, said Harvey Rudolph, deputy director of the FDA's Office of Science and Technology. "Everybody wants to find out if there are any problems."
Under the agreement, CTIA will fund about $1 million worth of safety studies. But the FDA will gather a panel of international experts to choose what to study, pick independent scientists to do the work, and then oversee that the science is done properly.
All the results must undergo standard scientific review for publication in medical journals, so doctors and consumers can be confident in the findings and confident that if studies uncover any problem, it won't be hidden.
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