Finland's radiation watchdog will study the effects of mobile phones on human proteins by conducting direct tests on people's skin, to see if handset transmissions affect their health, a Reuters report said.
The report said the pilot study, to be conducted next week, would expose a small area of skin on volunteers' arms to cellular phone radiation for the duration of a long phone call, or for one hour.
Researchers would then take a skin sample to study and compare with one taken before the radiation exposure, the report said.
The report said that as the cell samples used in previous laboratory tests by the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority were all from women, 10 female volunteers would be used in the new study to maintain the consistency of the data.
In previous tests, the group said that while it found evidence that mobile phone radiation caused cell level changes such as shrinkage, it was still impossible to say if that had significant health effects.
The results of the study would be due by the end of the year, the report said.