Tanning Bed Cancer Risk Elevated to Highest Level: Study

According to a new study by the World Health Organization (WHO), the risk of cancer from tanning beds has been placed in the top category for cancer risks, joining cigarettes, asbestos, nuclear fallout and other known carcinogens.

The report, published online today in the medical journal Lancet Oncology , involved an analysis of 20 different studies conducted by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is part of WHO. Experts concluded that using tanning beds before the age of 30 increases the risk of skin cancer by 75%.

The study’s results have led the agency to reclassify ultraviolet radiation from tanning beds and other sources as a definite carcinogen. Previously, radiation from sunbeds was only listed as a “probable” source of radiation. The new classification was determined last month by a panel of 20 international scientists.

Sunbed cancer is often pointed to as the cause of abnormally high rates of cancer in Scotland and Britain afflicting young women in their 20s. Both countries have some of the highest rates for both tanning bed use and skin cancer in young people.

Tanning bed and sunlamp advocates have long held that the beds use a different form or ultraviolet light, UV-A, than the sun, which gives off UV-B. But WHO scientists say the findings debunk the theory that one type of ultraviolet radiation is safer than another.

Some studies have shown that the use of tanning beds by young adults results in eight times the risk of developing melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer once found mainly in the elderly, but which has increasingly become a problem for younger adults. The new study also links UV radiation to ocular melanoma, a form of eye cancer.

The new study is fueling a long-running debate in the U.K. over the regulation of tanning beds. Cancer experts and health officials are urging the government to enact restrictions on tanning salons preventing their use by children under the age of 18, and are asking for new regulations to ensure proper staff training, levels of emitted UV radiation and tanning bed maintenance.