What Impact Would Effective Solarium Regulation Have in Australia?

1) Leading international health organisations are concerned about high use of artificial tanning services and the associated risk of skin cancer. Similar concerns exist about the growing Australian solarium industry. 2) Pre-teens appear to be ignoring sun safety messages in their desire to tan and use solaria. 3) A significantly elevated risk of melanoma exists among people exposed to artificial ultraviolet radiation; the risk is higher for those younger than 35 years at first solarium use. For all users, the risk of squamous cell carcinoma is more than doubled compared with non-users. 4) We estimated the numbers of new melanoma cases and melanoma-related deaths attributable to solarium use by younger people in the five most populous Australian states and indirectly quantified potential costs to the health system that could be saved by effective regulation of the solarium industry. 5) Annually, 281 new melanoma cases, 43 melanoma-related deaths and 2572 new cases of squamous cell carcinoma were estimated to be attributable to solarium use. 6) The annual cost to the health system--predominantly Medicare Australia--for these avoidable skin cancer cases and deaths is about $3 million. 7) By successfully enforcing solarium regulations that ban use by people younger than 18 years or with fair skin, favourable health and cost benefits could be expected.