Dermatologists agree with adding tanning booths to cancer list

The declaration by an international cancer research group that tanning booths emitting ultraviolet radiation are carcinogenic echoes what dermatologists say they've suspected for years.

"This study by such an extraordinarily prestigious organization such as the World Health Organization only validates what we've known for some time," said Neil Alan Fenske, a medical doctor and chairman of the dermatology department at the University of South Florida.

In an article published this week, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organization, classified tanning booths and beds as carcinogenic to humans and said they rank right up there with tobacco smoke and mustard gas.

"Combined analysis of over 20 epidemiological studies shows that the risk of cutaneous melanoma is increased by 75 percent when the use of tanning devices starts before age 30," said a posting on the agency's Web site.

"There is also sufficient evidence of an increased risk of ocular melanoma associated with the use of tanning devices," the agency said. "Studies in experimental animals support these conclusions and demonstrate that ultraviolet radiation (UVA, UVB and UVC) is carcinogenic to humans."

The findings reinforce existing recommendations by the World Health Organization "to avoid sunlamps and tanning parlors and to protect yourself from overexposure to the sun," the posting said.

None of this is shocking news for dermatologists. For some time, tanning beds that use ultraviolet rays were suspected of causing skin cancer.

"We, the members of the American Academy of Dermatology, have been fighting this battle for a number of years," Fenske said. "We've known for quite some time, through the literature and our own personal observations, that patients who have received abundant amounts of light via tanning beds have developed extraordinary numbers of skin cancers that belie their age."

He said he has treated a number of young people, particularly girls, who have multiple forms of skin cancer and melanomas that "we don't usually see on young patients.

"The only thing they have in common," he said, "is a history of tanning bed exposures."

He said that tanning in a booth once in a while may not be dangerous.

"The message here is that if it's done in moderation, it's safe," he said. "We don't have a problem with somebody doing two or three tans before a marriage or before a long beach weekend."

He said the tanning industry needs to impose some self-regulation or risk having lawmakers do it for them.

The problem is that the tanning trade encourages people to overdo it, he said, by offering specials and allowing teenagers to use the booths unsupervised on a regular basis.

He said many dermatologists feel the tanning industry, which has proliferated over the past several years, should be severely regulated.

The growth of the industry in the Sunshine State is not that difficult to understand, he said.

One reason is that it's easier to spend a few minutes in a booth than a day outside in the sun and another reason is the assurances by the industry that the booths are safe because they use UVA bulbs, rather than UVB, Fenske said.

"This study says for first time that UVA, also causes skin cancer," Fenske said. "This is where the real awakening has occurred."

Debbie Blachek, who owns The Tan Lounge, an upscale tanning salon in South Tampa, maintains the industry is safe and even offers safe alternatives for those worried about UVA rays.

"I think that there are several different methods" of getting a tan, she said. "Number one is we offer an alternative ... a sunless spray tan. It's a 45-second spray tan which is an aloe vera-based bronzer that sprays and dries."