The most comprehensive study on whether mobile phones pose a health threat has been launched.

The Cohort Study of Mobile Phone Use and Health (COSMOS) as the study is called will last for 30 years, double the time other studies took to complete their findings, and forming part of the Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Programme (MTHR), a UK body funded by numerous industry and government sources and run by independent experts, mostly university academics. The study will survey 200,000 mobile phone users living in five countries: Britain, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark.

Researchers hope to find a definitive answer on whether mobile phone use is linked to long-term health effects like brain cancer, including other disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases, not previously examined in other research studies on the use of mobile phones.

Over the years, several studies have concluded there is a link between cell phone use and cancer development later in life.

Another study published in the February 2008 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, suggested a link between heavy cell phone use and salivary gland cancer.

In 2006, a study published by the Swedish National Institute for Working Life concluded a 240% increase in the risk of a cancerous tumour on the side of the head the mobile phone was constantly used.

The scientists will be analysing trends for not only brain, head and neck cancers, but also multiple sclerosis and neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Motor Neurone Disease as well as heart conditions and strokes.

They will also take note of less serious problems like sleep disorders, headaches, tinnitus and depression.