Cellphone exposure limits should be reassessed, GAO recommends

Mobile phone exposure limits and testing requirements should be reassessed, according to a Government Accountability Office study.

While the report did not suggest that cellphone use causes cancer, the agency did say that Federal Communications Commission’s current energy exposure limit for mobile phones, established in 1996, “may not reflect the latest evidence on the effects” of cellphones. The study recommends that the FCC reassess two things: the current exposure limit and the way it tests exposure. In its conclusions, the report says that the FCC has not formally coordinated with the Food and Drug Administration or the Environmental Protection Agency on the exposure limits. The report also raised questions about the FCC’s decision to only test exposure at a distance from a body while using an earpiece, simulating, for example, someone setting their phone on a nearby table rather than in their pocket while speaking.