 Are cell phones risky? Cell phones are everywhere. There are over 6 billion cell phone subscriptions worldwide, nearly one for every man, woman and child on the planet, and many people claim they can no longer live without them. But are they safe? Is it possible that something so near and dear to us could be risky? And if so, what kind of risk would it be? For starters, most cell phones these days use lithium-ion batteries which, as a previous risk bytes explored, can present a fire risk if you abuse them. But so long as you don't treat your phone like a racket ball, you're probably okay. Then there's the non-ionizing radiation. Like other wireless electronic appliances, cell phones use high-frequency radio waves to do their thing. These radio waves allow the phone to communicate with satellites, computers and other phones, which in turn allow us to communicate with each other. What makes cell phones different from other wireless appliances is that we have a habit of holding them next to our heads. So it's perhaps not surprising that researchers have asked if there's any risk associated with extended exposure to cell phone radiation. To put it bluntly, they want to know, can cell phones give you brain cancer? Researchers in the United States, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, the UK and other countries have been looking into the question since cell phones first hit the market in the 1980s. For years, they have tracked cases of phone usage and brain cancer across time and geography. After decades of research and massive studies using hundreds of thousands of people from multiple countries, the answer is a resounding probably not. In 2011, the World Health Organization pulled together a group of experts from around the world to review the available data on cell phone radio waves and cancer. Their conclusion? The vast majority of evidence shows no increased risk associated with cell phone use. However, a slender few reports did find a slight association between cell phone use and cancer. So the WHO, being a cautious body, declared cell phone radio wave emissions to be a possible human carcinogen. What does this mean? Simply that there isn't enough evidence to be sure either way. We can't say that cell phones are unsafe, but we don't know if they are 100% entirely safe yet either. That may sound scary, but before you cancel your phone subscription, consider that this category of possible carcinogens also includes coffee and pickled vegetables. Surprisingly, the best studied risk associated with cell phones comes not from the phone itself but from the distraction it causes to drivers. We'll dive into that another time, but until then, don't forget to subscribe and stay safe. And whatever you do, don't watch Risk Bites while driving.