The link between mobile phones and brain tumours should "no longer be regarded as a myth" after research suggests high cellphone use could double the risk of brain cancer.

The review, headed by Australian-based neurosurgeon Vini Khurana, uses more than 100 sources in recent medical and scientific literature.

It claims to highlight an emerging global public health concern - with broader public health ramifications than asbestos and smoking.

Dr Khurana says in a research paper published on the website brain-surgery.us that using cellphone handsets for 10 years or more can double the risk of brain cancer and is more dangerous than smoking.

"Malignant brain tumours may take several years to develop, and the incidence of malignant brain tumours is increasing."

The time from when someone became a heavy mobile phone user to receiving a diagnosis of a malignant solid brain tumour could be about 10 to 20 years.

Mobile phones were launched in Europe in the mid-1980s.

The first 10 years of widespread usage ended in the mid 1990s, he said.

"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 tumour incidence rates.