# Ban commercial sunbeds

Source: https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-commercial-sunbed-ban/  
OnCo record `idea-prev-commercial-sunbed-ban` (Idea). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Sunbeds cause melanoma, especially when used young. Australia and Brazil have banned them. Other countries should follow and measure the effect.

## Summary

Sunbeds cause melanoma, especially when used young, and IARC classifies UV tanning devices as Group 1 carcinogens, so this idea bans commercial sunbeds in the remaining high-use countries, much of Europe and the US, following Australia and Brazil. Each ban would carry a pre-planned evaluation of melanoma incidence in adults under 40. The causal evidence is strong, the policy precedent exists and the cost is negligible. The test is an interrupted time series against non-adopting comparators. Being tested at scale, it addresses the bottleneck Prevention we already have is not deployed and links to the melanoma record and IARC.

## Fields

- Kind: Idea
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Hypothesis: A commercial sunbed ban reduces melanoma incidence in adults under 40 by at least 10% within 15 years.
- Rationale: Strong causal evidence, policy precedent, and negligible cost.
- Proposed test: Run an interrupted time series against non-adopting comparators.
- Maturity: being-tested-at-scale
- Actor: policy

## Sources

- Bottleneck evidence (Prevention we already have is not deployed): Islami et al., Proportion of cancer attributable to modifiable risk factors (CA 2018): https://doi.org/10.3322/caac.21440

## Connected records

- cancers: [Melanoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/melanoma/)
- fronts: [Prevention & Risk](https://onco.cc/fronts/prevention/)
- institutions: [International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC / WHO)](https://onco.cc/institutions/iarc/)
- bottlenecks: [Prevention we already have is not deployed](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-prevention-adoption/)
- key papers: [Proportion and number of cancer cases and deaths attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors in the United States](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-islami-ca-cancer-j-clin/)

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