The Mori poll, of also found that more than one in three occasional users were similarly concerned.

The survey, conducted earlier in May, was published as another scientist lined up to report a possible health risk from mobiles.

Dr Gerard Hyland said that current government regulations designed to protect users from an excessive intensity of microwave radiation were "fundamentally flawed".

Scientist Dr Gerard Hyland criticises current phone safety levels

Some current research has linked this intensity of microwave radiation to health problems but Dr Gerard Hyland said that manufacturers should be addressing the frequency of electromagnetic radiation from the phones instead.

His report, released at the Royal Society of Medicine in London, is another blow to the mobile phone industry in a week which also saw warnings aired on the BBC's "Panorama" programme.

Dr Hyland, a lecturer in physics from the University of Warwick, said that he believes that living cells are sensitive to the frequency of the radiation from mobiles, as well as its intensity, or the amount of heat it generates in human tissue.

Disruption to brainwaves

He said low frequency microwaves from mobiles could resonate with and disrupt brainwaves, which would account for the symptoms of memory loss, anxiety and lack of concentration that mobile users have reported.

He said: "The bottom line is that existing guidelines on electromagnetic radiation are totally inadequate and fundamentally flawed.

"They neglect to consider the fact that the objects being irradiated, namely ourselves, are alive."

The Mori poll was commissioned by a company which is marketing a device to product mobile phone users from electromagnetic radiation.

Currently 46 per cent of UK adults say they use a mobile phone at least once a day.

Research 'flawed'

The research aired on "Panorama" earlier in the week has been criticised as "flawed" by the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPD), a government advisory group which looks into health issues raised by radiation fields - such as whether electricity pylons close to homes cause problems.

The NRPD said that the study, which claimed to identify a higher risk of a rare brain tumour amongst mobile phone users, was "statistically imprecise".

But Dr Hyland said: "This evidence points to harmful effects on humans and shows that exposure to radiation from mobile phones can affect living tissue, and the nervous system of the human body, in particular."

Tom Wills-Sandford, a director at the Federation of the Electronics Industry, which represents the mobile phone manufacturers, said that any survey which showed that users were concerned was of great interest to them.

Of Dr Hyland's research he said: "We would welcome the publication of Dr Hyland's work in a peer reviewed scientific journal so that the scientific community can analyse his theories.

"The consensus among scientists as a whole is that there are no established health effects from using a mobile phone."