WHO: Tanning beds, UV radiation cause cancer

A tanning bed or sunbed is a device emitting ultraviolet radiation used to produce a cosmetic tan. The tanning beds use several fluorescent lamps that have phosphor blends designed to emit UV in a spectrum that is somewhat similar to the sun.

Sunbeds upgraded to top cancer risk level
Now, an international cancer research group has affirmed that tanning beds can cause cancer. The France-based group International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has deemed the tanning beds and other sources of ultraviolet radiation as deadly as arsenic and mustard gas.

IARC, the cancer arm of the World Health Organization, asserted that sunbeds use is more dangerous than previously suggested, and moved UV tanning beds to its highest cancer risk category- "carcinogenic to humans".

The agency had previously classified sunlamps and sunbeds as "probably" carcinogenic to humans.

After an analysis of about 20 studies, the experts at IARC in Lyon concluded that the risk of skin cancer jumps by 75 percent when people start using tanning beds before age 30. They also found mutations in mice when exposed to either UVA or UVB light. Prior to this, only one type of UV radiation was thought to be life-threatening.

"The use of sunbeds is carcinogenic to humans. It causes melanoma of the skin, and melanoma of the eye," said Vincent Cogliano, an IARC researcher who led the new assessment. "I cannot see any reason why a healthy person should use them."

"People need to be reminded of the risks of sunbeds," Cogliano continued. "We hope the prevailing culture will change so teens don't think they need to use sunbeds to get a tan."

Cogliano told WebMD in an interview that the scientific evidence linking indoor tanning to the deadly skin cancer melanoma is “sufficient and compelling”.

Melanoma (skin cancer) has dramatically increased in recent years, especially among children and young women.

Cogliano said over the past decade several studies provided “an abundance of evidence” that tanning bed use along with solar radiation- the main source of human exposure to ultraviolet radiation- has contributed to this rise.

“People mistakenly see a tan as a sign of health when it is actually a sign of damage to the skin,” he cautioned.

Reaction to the new IARC analysis
Meanwhile, the advocates for tanning salons have disputed the classification of tanning beds as carcinogenic.

Kathy Banks, chief executive of The Sunbed Association, a European trade association of tanning bed makers and operators, said in a statement: "The fact that is continuously ignored is that there is no proven link between the responsible use of sunbeds and skin cancer." She said most tanning bed users use them less than 20 times a year.

Dan Humiston, president of the Indoor Tanning Association, said the information is not new. "The fact that the IARC has put tanning bed use in the same category as sunlight is hardly newsworthy," he said.

"The UV light from a tanning bed is equivalent to UV light from the sun, which has had a Group One classification since 1992. Some other items in this category are red wine, beer and salted fish," he continued.

The research is published in the latest edition of The Lancet Oncology medical journal.