After exhaustively reviewing decades of worldwide research, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a branch of the World Health Organization (WHO), has unequivocally linked sunbed tanning among young people to melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. According to the agency’s conclusions, the weight of evidence also points to youthful sunbed use as a cause of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), the second most common skin cancer, as well as other health problems.

“The data show a clear increase in melanoma risk associated with sunbed use in one’s teens and twenties,” said Peter Boyle, MD, Director of the IARC. “And limited data show a similar increase in risk of SCC for those who first used sunbed tanning as teenagers.”

The Figures Don't Lie

The connection between sunbed tanning and melanoma across all age groups was not statistically significant, though “still not negligible,” Dr. Boyle noted. However, the link between youthful sunbed tanning and melanoma was “prominent and consistent”— a 75 percent increase in risk of melanoma among those who first used sunbeds in their twenties or teen years.

Along with the increased risk of SCC indicated by the data, other potential health problems suggested were a decrease in the skin’s immune response (which could reduce resistance to skin cancers and other maladies) and an increase in eye (ocular) melanomas. No positive health effects of sunbed tanning were found, contradicting what tanning salon owners often have insisted as a selling point.

“In view of the strength and seriousness of the findings, effective action to restrict access to artificial tanning facilities, such as solariums and tanning salons, to minors and young adults should be strongly considered,” concluded Dr. Boyle.

Off to a Good Start

Fortunately, many states across the U.S. are already doing just that, and the number is growing. California, Texas, New Jersey, North Carolina, and New Hampshire have recently passed bills restricting teen access to indoor tanning, bringing to 25 the number of states that have placed some restriction on minors’ access to tanning beds. Often the restrictions require parental approval before a teen tans. Under a new law proposed in Massachusetts, young teens would be banned altogether from indoor tanning beds, and older teens would need their parents’ permission. In October, the city of Hamilton, Ohio, passed an ordinance urging the Ohio General Assembly to prohibit those under age 18 from use of tanning facilities except when approved by parents and prescribed by a physician for medical purposes.

Skin cancer rates have doubled in the U.S. in the past 30 years; many largely blame teen use of tanning beds. “Ultimately, we’d like to see indoor tanning banned altogether for young people, except when it is required as a medical treatment,” concluded The Skin Cancer Foundation's President, Perry Robins, MD.