Five European countries are launching a new long-term study on the effects of cell phone usage on one’s health. The study will follow at least 250,000 people between the ages of 18-69 from five European countries for two to three decades.

From Reuters:

The Cohort Study on Mobile Communications (COSMOS) differs from previous attempts to examine links between cell phone use and diseases such as cancer and neurological disorders in that it will follow users’ behavior in real time. Most other large-scale studies have centered around asking people already suffering from cancer or other diseases about their previous mobile-phone use. They have also been shorter, since cell phones have only been widely used for about a decade.

About 5 billion mobile phones are in use globally.