International experts have moved tanning beds and ultraviolet radiation into the top cancer-risk category, calling them as deadly as arsenic and mustard gas.
For years, scientists deemed both "probable carcinogens."
But a new analysis by World Health Organization cancer experts of about 20 studies concludes the risk of skin cancer jumps by 75 percent when people start using tanning beds before age 30.
The experts also found that all types of ultraviolet radiation caused worrying mutations in mice, proof the radiation is carcinogenic.
The new classification means tanning beds and ultraviolet radiation are definite causes of cancer, alongside tobacco, the hepatitis B virus and chimney sweeping, among others.
"We hope the prevailing culture will change so teens don't think they need to use sunbeds to get a tan," said researcher Vincent Cogliano who contributed to the study, published this week online in the medical journal Lancet Oncology.
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