LONDON: It's no news that mobile phone use raises the risk of brain cancer and impotency. Now, add mouth cancer to the list.

A team of international researchers has carried out a study and found that too much use of cell phones increases the chance of developing malignant mouth tumour, British newspaper Daily Mail reported on Saturday.

In fact, the researchers came to the conclusion after analysing the effects of mobile phone use on a group of people in Israel.

The team compared the lifestyles of 402 people with benign mouth tumours and 56 having malignant ones with a control group of 1,266 people. Those who used mobiles the most were more likely than normal to develop parotid gland tumours.

Those who used mobiles the most were more likely than normal to develop parotid gland tumours. In fact, five years of frequent use increased the chances of developing a tumour by around 50 per cent compared with people who had never used one, the researchers found.

Long term users of mobiles tended to develop tumours on the same side of the head as the phone was normally held.

People who used mobile phones in rural areas, where the phone has to work harder to make contact with the nearest base station, were found to be at greater risk.

Lead researcher Dr Siegal Sadetzki, from the Chaim Sheba Medical Centre in Tel Hashomer, Israel, was, however, cautious about coming to any conclusions.

"Until more evidence becomes available we believe that the precautionary approach currently adopted by most scientific committees and applied by many governments should continue," he said.