New Jersey's melanoma rate has increased 43 percent in a 10 year period and indoor tanning is a major factor fueling that increase, according to the American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network.

Tanning Bed
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The group says there is now more proof that indoor tanning beds cause cancer.

The latest study in BMJ, a British medical journal, links at least 170,000 skin cancers a year to indoor tanning.

In this latest study, researchers conclude that indoor tanning is associated with a significantly higher risk of skin cancer and the risk is heightened for young people.

"The indoor tanning industry falsely touts the health benefits of indoor tanning, while researchers keep producing evidence that indoor tanning poses a serious, sometimes deadly, health hazard" said Ethan Hasbrouck, New Jersey advocacy director for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.

The World Health Organization (WHO) puts tanning beds in the highest cancer risk category - group 1 - 'carcinogenic to humans.' That's the same class as arsenic, asbestos, benzene, dioxin, mustard gas, tobacco smoke and vinyl chloride. According to the WHO, use of tanning beds before the age of 30 increases the risk of melanoma 75 percent.

"This is very dangerous stuff we're talking about here," said Hasbrouck.

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network urges New Jersey lawmakers to enact a ban on indoor tanning for minors as soon as possible.

"We applaud the New Jersey Assembly for passing the bill this spring, but we urge the state Senate to do the same. We need to ban indoor tanning for our youth as quickly as we can" he added.

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