Recently, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) upgraded their assessment of the cancer-causing potential of sunbeds and sunlamps. Previously, the IARC, a committee that makes recommendations to the WHO, had determined that sunlamps and sunbeds were "probably carcinogenic to humans" but has now stated that the use of such devices is definitively "carcinogenic to humans". The change in the risk level puts the use of sunlamps and sunbeds on the same level as asbestos exposure and smoking.

　　The IARC is responsible for research and strategies for cancer prevention and control on behalf of the World Health Organisation (WHO). The report will appear in the August edition of The Lancet Oncology (www.thelancet.com).

　　It is hoped, that this new assessment will lead to an increase in industry regulation of sunbed use. The decision to change the assessment was made following the review of research that showed that people who began using sunbeds before the age of 30 were 75% more at risk for melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer.

　　Craig Sinclair, Director of the Cancer Prevention Centre at Cancer Council Victoria, Australia welcomed the recognition that sunbeds are carcinogenic. "This should be another warning to sunbed users that there is no such thing as a safe tan. Now more than ever, this report highlights the dangers associated with sunbed use," Mr Sinclair said.

　　Cancer adovactes in England believe that the increased use of sunbeds has played a large part in the increase in melanoma cases amongst Britons, which topped 10,000 cases a year for the first time. Since 1977, the rate of melanoma among Britons has increased from 3.4 cases per 100,000 people to 14.7 cases per 100,000 people in 2006.

　　Most experts agree that a wholesale ban on sunbed use is not necessary; instead, they hope to create an age limit for their use. Such a law would ban persons under the age of 18 from using sunbeds and would call for increased supervision of those using sunbeds by a trained staff.

　　Solariums emit ultraviolet (UV) radiation up to three times stronger than the midday summer sun. There are some companies today who claim new sunbeds only emit "safe" forms of UV radiation, however this is not exactly true. The idea that UVA is actually a safe form of UV radiation is untrue; in fact, UVA exposure enhances the aging of the skin and also plays a role skin cancer formation. The true levels of UV radiation are difficult to specifically determine. In an average sunbed, UVA levels easily reach the midday UVA levels of the United Kingdom, but in some sunbeds, these levels may be up to 20 times the maximum value. UVB levels may be as low as 1/20 the maximum levels seen during a typical British summer, but they may also be as much as three times greater than this maximum. Assuming that the average exposure levels for sunbeds are the norm, spending 10 minutes in one is equivalent of spending 10 minutes summer sun in the Mediterranean, proving that sunbed use definitely adds to a person's annual UV exposure.

(http://www.uicc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16740&Itemid=1)