Tanning Beds Linked to Most Common Skin Cancer

Scientists at the Yale School of Public Health discover link to basal cell carcinoma

Tan at your own risk.

Young people who used indoor tanning beds were 69 percent more likely to develop the most common form of skin cancer than non-tanners, according to a new study by scientists at the Yale School of Public Health.

And heavy tanners, those who regularly used indoor booths for at least six years, were more than twice as likely to suffer from early-onset basal cell carcinoma as non-tanners, Time magazine reported.

Researchers studied 750 people under 40, some of whom had already been diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma. While the disease is not usually fatal, scientists' findings reinforce earlier research linking tanning bed use to melanoma -- the deadliest type of skin cancer.

University of Minnesota researchers found that people who used tanning beds were more than 74 percent more likely to develop melanoma than non-tanners, according to Reuters.

The World Health Organization has already classified indoor tanning beds, used by an estimated 30 million Americans, as a carcinogen.

Someone better tell the kids from "Jersey Shore."

Selected Reading: Reuters, Time
 

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