[lcvw]

How could it be? The radiation wavelength is far too high to cause any sort of chemistry. I know there are those that will still believe it does though.

[awelxtr]

It's not about the wavelength, it's about the power.

I use shorter or higher wavelengths (depends on the channel in question) to cook my food every day but my phone sure doesn't emit 700W

[__alexs]

Getting cooked is also not cancer. There is also not evidence for a link between burn injuries and cancer anyway.

[pton_xd]

What's the mechanism by which UVA and UVB radiation cause cancer?

[etskinner]

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionizing_radiation :

>Exposure to ionizing radiation causes cell damage to living tissue and organ damage.

>Gamma rays, X-rays, and the higher energy ultraviolet part of the electromagnetic spectrum are ionizing radiation, whereas the lower energy ultraviolet, visible light, nearly all types of laser light, infrared, microwaves, and radio waves are non-ionizing radiation

In other words, the UV causes cancer because it's in the ionizing range of the spectrum. Radio waves don't because they're not.

[Arch485]

Ionization

[leumon]

I think it depends on the amount of the radiation. While non-ionizating radiation doesn't have the ability to remove electrons, it still can heat up surfaces. Microwave ovens for example use non-ionizing radiation to heat up food, but this amount of radiation could potentially be dangerous if exposed to, because it could destroy human tissue.

[vel0city]

You're right, it is entirely possible to get RF burns at the UHF frequencies involved here. I wouldn't want to hang out near a 1kW UHF antenna!

But let's look at the scale of emissions here. A microwave oven is going to be radiating anywhere from 800 to 1600 watts of energy into a box designed to focus most of the energy where the food is. A phone is going to emit maybe 2W of power at its peak transmission power omnidirectionally. Meaning a lot of that 2W isn't going anywhere near your head.

[moi2388]

Wouldn’t it then hypothetically also kill the cancer cells? And due to increased water and blood flow, in an even higher rate compared to healthy cells?

[gruez]

AFAIK "cellphone cause cancer" proponents moved to more vague mechanisms like localized heating and/or "inflammation".

[noja]

Will that ever change? i.e. is 5G as undangerous as 2G?

[SketchySeaBeast]

Well, based upon some Googling, 2G's wavelength is ~33cm and 5G's is ~80mm, so that's a big increase, but the kicker is that ionizing radiation's wavelength starts at ~100nm, so we're still a huge distance away from dangerous. We're not even at visible light yet (~700nm). 5G has less potential for damage than your computer screen.