A new research has been initiated by cosmos (Cohort study on mobile communications) to identify the long term effects of using a cell phone and its relation to health problems such as cancer and Alzheimer's.
The sample size for this study will be a whooping 250,000 people between the age 18 to 69 years, from five different European countries will be studied for 20 to 30 years. The study conducted at this magnitude is only a small portion of the 6 billion mobile phone users around the world. Mereille Toledano, co principal investigator was quoted saying in cnet.com as “For the benefit of current users and for future generations, it is important for us to carry out long-term health monitoring of a large group of mobile phone users so that we can identify if there are any possible health effects from this new and widespread technology that has become so central to our everyday lives.”
Another study initiated by COSMOS in UK from Imperial college London has invited about 2.5 million mobile phone users to participate in an online survey. The study aims to understand cell phone usage, health factors and lifestyle. And the participants are also requested permission to monitor their phone use for at least 20 years.
Although the research initiated by COSMOS aims to identify the long term health issues on cell phone users with special focus on exposure to radiation and cancer, it does not include children in the survey who are more susceptible to health issues than adults.