Solariums almost double cancer risk Article from: AAP
By Jessica Marszalek
January 14, 2008 02:48pm
PEOPLE under the age of 35 raise the risk of forming a dangerous melanoma skin cancer by an 98 per cent if they use solariums, a new study has revealed. The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency study also found an individual's chance of developing a melanoma - the rarest but deadliest form of skin cancer - increased by 22 per cent if they had used a solarium just once.
Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) scientist Louisa Gordon, who collated the findings of 21 studies in the research project, said the results were concerning given the rapid growth of the solarium industry.
She said Australians were diagnosed with more than 9500 melanomas each year, ending in more than 1100 deaths.
QIMR estimated about 12 to 62 of those cases each year were directly attributable to indoor tanning devices, she said.
"We believe approximately 1000 melanomas and up to 12,000 squamous cell carcinomas (a less severe but sometimes fatal skin cancer) could be avoided in the next generation of young Australians if the Government instigated more stringent industry regulations," Dr Gordon said.
Current voluntary standards which prohibited people under 18 and people with fair skin from using sun beds should be legally enforced, she said.
"Solariums emit stronger UVB rays, stronger than the outdoor sun ... it's very dangerous, it's very high levels of radiation that we shouldn't be exposed to," she said. "I don't think there should be (a solarium industry) but we shouldn't have a cigarette industry either." The results were announced at Suncorp's Sunwise launch where the mother of a 25-year-old melanoma victim appealed for people to have themselves checked.
Tracey Eather's daughter Amanda died late last year after a two-year battle with the disease, leaving her husband and two-year-old son behind.
Ms Eather said her daughter had rarely exposed herself to the sun but had used solariums in the past.
She said doctors did not know whether that had directly contributed to the melanoma.
"Some people just think it's a skin cancer that might get burnt off at the doctor's or cut out - a little scar or whatever," she said.
"But it can go into your body, invade your body or your bones or your organs. It can go anywhere.
"It's really a death sentence once it's gone into your bloodstream."
Ms Eather said her family was working to set up a melanoma awareness foundation in Amanda's memory.
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