The FDA Nomination to the National Toxicology Program
A Recommendation for Animal Studies on Cell Phone Radiation as Safety is Not Assured
In 1999, the FDA nominated cell phone radiation to the NTP for large-scale animal studies because “the existing exposure guidelines are based entirely on protection from acute injury from thermal effects of RF exposure, and may not be protective against any non-thermal effects of chronic exposures.” This is documentation that the FDA understood that FCC limits set in 1996 were not based on long term exposures.
The FDA states that“Animal experiments are crucial because meaningful data will not be available from epidemiological studies for many years due to the long latency period between exposure to a carcinogen and the diagnosis of a tumor.” This is documentation that the FDA wanted animal research to be done to understand possible human health effects.
The FDA was clear that safety is not assured and states that “there is currently insufficient scientific basis for concluding either that wireless communication technologies are safe or that they pose a risk to millions of users. A significant research effort, including well-planned animal experiments, is needed to provide the basis to assess the risk to human health of wireless communications devices.”
In November 2018 after the National Toxicology Program released the final reports on their $25 million dollar animal research study on cell phone radiation, the FDA issued a statement that they do not accept the final conclusion of “clear evidence” of cancer and “we must remember the study was not designed to test the safety of cell phone use in humans, so we cannot draw conclusions about the risks of cell phone use from it.”
Why is the FDA dismissing the importance of the study in terms of the finding if a carcinogenic effect at non thermal levels ? FCC limits are based on animal data. By the FDA’s own logic (that animal data is not relevant to human data) then the US and international radiofrequency radiation limits are in fact not applicable to human health. Furthermore, if the FDA is rejecting the NTP conclusions then they should share their scientific comments or analysis.
The FDA has had multiple opportunities to submit official comments for the record on the NTP findings but has not done so. The FDA did not submit comments to the NTP during the open comment period, not during the March 2018 peer review process itself, nor at any time other than an online statement that cannot be considered a technical response. Where is the report explaining the basis for the FDA rejection of the NTP findings?
Please read the full nomination to the NTP for animal research by the FDA below. [pdf-embedder url=”https://ehtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/FDA-Nomination-for-Cell-Phone-NTP-Study-.pdf” title=”FDA Nomination for Cell Phone NTP Study”]
