AUGUSTA — Members of a legislative committee have rejected a proposal that would have required cellphone manufactures to affix health warning labels on cellular phones.

The bill would have required any cellphone manufacturer that includes safety notifications in an owner’s manual to also include a “safety notice” displayed prominently on the phone’s body advising users to read the notifications.

Additionally, the bill would have required all cellphones sold in Maine to have a warning label on the phone reading, “This device emits radiofrequency electromagnetic fields. Avoid direct contact.”

But members of the Legislature’s Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee voted 7-4 against the bill Thursday after members said the science remains unclear. Maine Attorney General Janet Mills had also raised constitutional questions about the measure, L.D. 883.

The bill, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Denise Harlow of Portland will now go to the full Legislature as a “divided report,” meaning that supporters could attempt to revive the measure on the House or Senate floor.

In 2010, another legislative committee voted unanimously to reject a similar proposal. The bills were spearheaded by lawmakers, individuals and organizations that contend federal health and consumer protection agencies as well as phone manufacturers are not doing enough to warn cellphone users about potential health risks from the devices. But the issue is hotly debated and the science remains unclear on the issue of whether the radio frequency radiation emitted by cellphones could increase cancer risk.

The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified electromagnetic fields emitted by mobile phones as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” but the WHO says more long-term studies are needed.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website on cellphone safety states: “At this time we do not have the science to link health problems to cellphone use. Scientific studies are underway to determine whether cellphone use may cause health effects.”