Tanning Beds into Top Cancer Risk Category

International cancer experts have moved tanning beds into the top cancer risk category, deeming them as deadly as arsenic and mustard gas.

Photo: Tanning Beds into Top Cancer Risk Category

A new analysis of about 20 studies concludes the risk of skin cancer jumps by 75 percent when people start using tanning beds before age 30. Experts also found that all types of ultraviolet radiation caused worrying mutations in mice, proof that the radiation is carcinogenic. Previously, only one type of ultraviolet radiation was thought to be lethal, Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

Meanwhile, the France-based agency, which is part of the World Health Organization, had previously classified sunlamps and tanning beds as "probably" carcinogenic to humans.

The research, published in the latest edition of The Lancet Oncology medical journal, found using tanning beds could increase the risk of developing cancer by 75 percent, particularly if used by children and young adults, Reuters reports.

However, there are some people who are not really concerned at all. ... We do have people who do a lot of tanning, almost every day," Eid said.

That attitude concerns doctors like Dr. Michael Sabel of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

"Skin cancer is one of the fastest-rising cancers and melanoma is one of the deadliest solid tumors we deal with," Sabel said, Detroit Free Press reports.