LONG-TERM mobile phone users are more likely to develop a particular type of brain tumour on the side of the head where they hold their handsets, according to new research.
The study, to be published later this year in the International Journal of Cancer, found that people who regularly used mobiles for longer than 10 years were almost 40 per cent more likely to develop nervous system tumours, called gliomas, near where they hold their phones.
Gliomas are tumours that develop in glial cells tissue that provides energy, nutrients and other support for nerve cells in the brain.
It is the second study to suggest the increased risk of a specific type of brain tumour because of emissions from mobile phones. But some other studies have found no increased health risks.
In the study, the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, in Finland, compared the mobile phone use of 1521 people with gliomas with that of 3301 people without the cancers.
Before separating out long-term users or looking at the different risks of developing tumours on the side where users held the phone, the scientists found no link between mobile use and gliomas. But when they focused only on those who had used a mobile for 10 years or more, they found that they were 39 per cent more vulnerable.
The chief executive of the Cancer Council of Australia, Professor Ian Olver, said the study was not conclusive, as it only found the link between mobile phones and glioma when it looked at a much smaller sample of people - those who had used a mobile for 10 years or longer.
While short-term use had been all but disproved, there might still be something in the effects of long-term use, he said.
