Is this correct? I'm not much more than a layman in physics, but I thought RF, being below the visible spectrum, is non-ionizing thus unable to cause any cell damage.
Edit: Besides from microwaves or similar oscillating fields.
I'm sceptical that low levels of non-ionising radiation can do damage, but it's not physically impossible. (I know of no biological mechanism by which it could cause harm, but I'm no biologist.)
a) individual rays/particles have enough energy to knock electrons off ("ionizing radiation"). This is dependent on wavelength/frequency, not the amount of radiation, so even small amounts can be possibly problematic.
b) quantity of radiation brings enough energy to heat things up, cause damage through heating.
Cell phones have neither problem.
Yes. Otherwise a microwave oven would just sear stuff. Radio frequency penetrates meat. It doesn't do it well, because meat has high impedance, but it does penetrate.
Disclaimer: I don't believe cell phones are causing cancer; there just isn't enough power involved. It's all bunk.
Remember that cells are stateful biochemical machines, so it's not just instantaneous damage from radiation as the only possible pathway. If the authors are right and the cells are in some way receptive to the modulated emissions, some bio-structures might be like antenna and demodulators, stimulating the cells at many lower frequency scales. An analogy here could be a crystal radio which demodulates AM broadcasts into an audible frequency, or the way old GSM call negotiation patterns would induce an audible pattern in computer speakers.
This summary of occupational safety concerns for mechanical vibration covers a topic I found interesting when it first appeared as a news item years ago: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6415671/
I know you might say this is vastly different scales of energy between whole body vibration from an industrial job and emissions from a battery-powered cell phone. My observation is merely that there are many ways that we might naively think that our bodies are robust, while with repeated exposure to seemingly harmless conditions, subtle damage accumulates.