Warning: Cellphones may be hazardous to your health. (Eric Risberg/AP) “The only honest way to think of our cellphones is that they are tiny, low-powered microwave ovens, without walls, that we hold to the side of our heads.”

Journalist Christopher Ketcham wrote that line in February 2010 in a GQ article detailing the health hazards of cellphones. In April, This American Life interviewed Ketcham about his article. Ketcham said he wanted to warn people about the dangers of cellphones, but that he often was derided by his belief — even by his own teenage daughter. “Most people think I’m crazy. Most people think I’m absolutely bonkers,” he told This American Life host Ira Glass. “They dismiss outright what I have to say. They’ll listen to the evidence and then call their friend to tell them about it.”

A year later, Ketcham has a higher authority to back up his claims.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, an arm of the World Health Organization, has classified cellphones as possibly carcinogenic to humans. It falls into a category with pesticide and gasoline engine exhaust.

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