Tanning lamps pose skin cancer risk, researchers warn

By Paul Recer

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Tanning lamps can double the risk of some common types of skin cancer, particularly for the young, according to researchers who suggest that tanning salons should be closed to minors.

In a study to appear today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, researchers found that people who used tanning devices were 1.5 to 2.5 times more likely to have common kinds of skin cancer than were people who did not use the devices.

The study confirmed what doctors and other health care workers have long suspected — that sun lamp use increases the risk of basal cell and squamous cell skin cancers, said Margaret Karagas, first author of the study.

"Even though we suspected tanning lamps might cause these types of skin cancers, there really hadn’t before been epidemiological studies that addressed that issue," she said.

Dr. James Spencer, vice chairman of the department of dermatology at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York and an expert spokesman for the American Academy of Dermatology, praised the study as confirming in humans what has already been shown in animal studies — "it is actually worse to go to the tanning parlor and get a little bit each day" than it is to get an infrequent sunburn.

Both can seriously damage the skin, he said, but the small, day-to-day exposure is worse for the skin in the long run, he said.

"The tanning industry has said … as long as you don’t burn you’ll be OK," said Spencer. "This study shows that this is not true."

Joseph Levy, vice president of the International Smart Tan Network and a spokesman for the Indoor Tanning Association, however, said the study "is not an indictment of commercial tanning facilities in any way."

He said that occasional sunburn "is a risk factor in all forms of skin cancer and intermittent sunburn is what the tanning industry is trying to stop."

Karagas said that a statistical analysis shows that those who used tanning equipment were 2.5 times more likely to get squamous cell skin cancer than were people who had not used the devices. For basal cell cancer, the risk was 1.5 time greater.

The risk was highest for those who first used the tanning devices before the age of 20, said Karagas. For this group, the squamous cell cancer risk was 3.6 times greater than the controls. The basal cell cancer risk was 1.8 times greater.

"It appears that people who were younger when they first started using tanning lamps were at greater risk," said Karagas. This suggests that the use of tanning devices should be more closely regulated, she said.

"If … we think that tanning lamps cause skin cancer, then we need to think about protecting adolescents and informing adults of what the risks really are," she said. "We do that for other carcinogenic exposures such as tobacco."

Levy said the study is not relevant to the modern tanning industry because most of the patients were exposed to tanning equipment before 1975.

"Indoor tanning facilities did not come into play (in the U.S.) until 1979," said Levy. "It was not prevalent in our culture in the ’80s."

Thus, he said, many of the people interviewed the study must have improperly used home sun lamps. Commercial tanning parlors, said Levy, use calibrated equipment that carefully regulates and controls exposure.

Spencer, however, said that a suntan is a sign of damaged skin.

"You have to damage the skin to get a suntan," he said.