New research has revealed that mobile phones are more injurious to people’s health than smoking. Why is that? It seems that mobile phone usage and brain cancer are linked to each other.

According to one of the world’s top neurosurgeons, Vini Khurana, using mobile phones for 10 years could double the risk of brain cancer. “This danger has far broader public-health ramifications than asbestos and smoking,” he told the Independent of London.

Dr. Khurana based his assessment on the fact that three billion people now use the phones worldwide, which is three times higher than people who smoke. Smoking kills some five million globally each year.

Dr. Khurana reviewed more than 100 previous studies on the effects of mobile handsets and concluded people should avoid using cell phones whenever possible and called on governments and industry to take “immediate steps” to reduce radiation exposure through the devices.

“In the years 2008-2012, we will have reached the appropriate length of follow-up time to begin to definitively observe the impact of this global technology on brain tumor incidence rates,” he said.

The French government has already warned against mobile phone use, particularly by children. Also, Germany and the European Environment Agency have urged its people to minimize their exposure to mobile handsets.

The Mobile Operators Association, last week, rejected Dr. Khurana’s study as “a selective discussion of scientific literature by one individual.” It “does not present a balanced analysis” of the published science, and “reaches opposite conclusions to the World Health Organization and more than 30 other independent expert scientific reviews.”

Dr. Khurana posted his analysis on a neurosurgery Web site and a paper about his research is currently under peer review for publication in a leading scientific journal.