The World Health Organization (WHO) has said for the first time that mobile phone radiation can cause cancer and advised people to take pragmatic steps to steer clear of the killer malady.

Though mobile phone use has been linked to cancers and tumors by umpteen studies over the years, the global health body had not yet given a conclusive verdict on the case.

There have been reports earlier that said people using mobile phones for at least half an hour a day had a 40 percent greater risk of developing brain tumors. Mobile phone industry, on the other hands, has always brushed off the findings, saying there was only insufficient evidence linking mobile radiation to cancers.

According to a Daily Mail report, WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has included mobile phones among possible carcinogens. Mobile radiation is ranked lower than carcinogens like cigarette smoke, asbestos and sunbeds. According to the report, WHO could redraw its guidelines on mobile phone use based on the new finding.

The conclusion means that there could be some risk and therefore we need to keep a close watch for a link between cell phones and cancer risk, said IARC working group's chairman Dr Jonathan Samet, according to the Mail.

If WHO's call on the mobile radiation risk is accurate, mobile phones can become the biggest killer in time. Mobile usage is galloping among all sections of people worldwide and in most developed countries mobile phone penetration is more than 100 percent.

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