The body that represents the UK’s sunbed salons is wrongly insisting that a tan protects against sunburn, even though leading medical bodies (contacted by Full Fact) say that claim is untrue.
Health organisations have challenged the accuracy of information being disseminated by the Sunbed Association, which on its website asks: “Is it true there is no such thing as a safe tan?”
Its answer – “No. Tanned skin protects against sunburn” – has prompted Cancer Research UK and the British Association of Dermatologists to warn that a tan can increase the risk of skin cancer.
The website also claimed that sunburn is “thought to be the main cause of melanoma. [And that] if you avoid getting sunburned, the benefits of moderate sun exposure will far outweigh the risks.”
The Sunbed Association’s claim is contained in a section of its website which poses and answers frequently asked questions about sunbeds, tanning and UV radiation.
Its defence of the alleged benefit of tanned skin came to the attention of Full Fact, the factchecking organisation. It checked the association’s statement with seven UK, European and US health bodies. They refuted the idea that tanning is protective and said a tan indicated the person’s skin has been damaged by the sun, leaving them at heightened risk of skin cancer.
Sophie Brooks, the health information manager at Cancer Research UK, told Full Fact: “There’s no such thing as safe tanning from UV radiation.
“A tan is a sign of skin damage and offers very little protection against the sun. A bit of sun helps our bodies make Vitamin D. But there’s no need to sunbathe or risk sunburn to get enough Vitamin D. Too much sun can cause sunburn and increase the risk of skin cancer.”
The British Association of Dermatologists said: “There is no safe way to get a tan. Whether from the sun or a sunbed, a tan is a visible sign that your skin has been damaged by ultraviolet (UV) radiation, which increases your risk of skin cancer.”
The NHS, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, European Commission and both the US’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration all highlighted the risk of tanning. “The only safe way to use [sunbeds] is not to use them at all”, the commission said.
Full Fact said: “So when the Sunbed Association suggests there is such a thing as a safe tan, it is contradicting many of the most respected scientific authorities around the world.”
The evidence shows that the Sunbed Association’s website “contains incorrect health advice on tanning”, it added. It warns that “bad health information can be very dangerous.”
Full Fact asked the association to justify the disputed statement in its FAQ. “It told us that in its view a controlled tan slightly increases the skin’s protection against further UV damage.
“When we asked for evidence that this tan itself did not raise the risk of cancer, it sent us references to several scientific papers and said it believed these demonstrated that ‘a consensus view based on flawed and/or selective data simply enables the established narrative to continue’.”
Full Fact added: “The evidence the association provided does not prove that the consensus is flawed. The studies the association mentioned were not in our assessment reliable guides to the risks in the real world.” The association previously submitted similar evidence to an EU consultation on the safety of sunbeds but failed to change its position.
Statistics expert Kevin McConway, a professor emeritus of applied statistics at the Open University, who advises Full Fact, also dismissed the validity of the association’s evidence.
Melanoma skin cancer is the fifth most common cancer in the UK. Every year there are 19,400 new diagnoses and causes 2,600 deaths, statistics show.
