BenQ Mobile GmbH & Co. OHG SL56 User Manual

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U.S. FDA
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SL56 fug am. english, A31008-H4920-A40-1-4A19 (13. June 2003, 12:50)
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How much evidence is there that hand-
held mobile phones might be harmful?
Briefly, there is not enough evidence 
to know for sure, either way; how-
ever, research efforts are on-going. 
The existing scientific evidence is 
conflicting and many of the studies 
that have been done to date have 
suffered from flaws in their research 
methods. Animal experiments inves-
tigating the effects of RF exposures 
characteristic of mobile phones have 
yielded conflicting results. A few ani-
mal studies, however, have sug-
gested that low levels of RF could 
accelerate the development of can-
cer in laboratory animals. In one 
study, mice genetically altered to be 
predisposed to developing one type 
of cancer developed more than 
twice as many such cancers when 
they were exposed to RF energy 
compared to controls. There is much 
uncertainty among scientists about 
whether results obtained from ani-
mal studies apply to the use of 
mobile phones. First, it is uncertain 
how to apply the results obtained in 
rats and mice to humans. Second, 
many of the studies showed 
increased tumor development used 
animals that had already been 
treated with cancer-causing chemi-
cals, and other studies exposed the 
animals to the RF virtually continu-
ously – up to 22 hours per day.
For the past five years in the United 
States, the mobile phone industry 
has supported research into the 
safety of mobile phones. This 
research has resulted in two findings 
in particular that merit additional 
study:
1. In a hospital-based, case-control 
study, researchers looked for an 
association between mobile phone 
use and either glioma (a type of 
brain cancer) or acoustic neuroma (a 
benign tumor of the nerve sheath). 
No statistically significant associa-
tion was found between mobile 
phone use and acoustic neuroma. 
There was also no association 
between mobile phone use and glio-
mas when all types of gliomas were 
considered together. It should be 
noted that the average length of 
mobile phone exposure in this study 
was less than three years.
When 20 types of glioma were con-
sidered separately, however, an 
association was found between 
mobile phone use and one rare type 
of glioma, neuroepithelliomatous 
tumors. It is possible with multiple 
comparisons of the same sample 
that this association occurred by 
chance. Moreover, the risk did not 
increase with how often the mobile 
phone was used, or the length of the 
calls. In fact, the risk actually 
decreased with cumulative hours of 
mobile phone use. Most cancer caus-
ing agents increase risk with 
increased exposure. An ongoing 
study of brain cancers by the